<<Print>>

It was Mr. Vincent Dzatse of Ghanaian Times, Nii Martey Botchey of Daily Guide in 2013, Geoffrey Buta a journalist in the Northern region in 2014, just to mention but a few and now Mr Kendrick offei Ansah a freelance journalist.

It is sad to reveal that this does not only happen in Ghana be outside the shore of Ghana. In 2015 it was reported that Ghanaian soldiers in uniform attacked Poindexter Sama, senior reporter, and Alie Turay, graphic designer, both of the daily Awoko Newspaper, as the journalists photographed the troops passing the newspaper's offices in Freetown. These hard working mouth piece of the nation and the voice for the voiceless have suffer military brutality on their line of duty with no compensation but had to fight their way through for justice.

The question is who may be the next victim?

These have been some of the apologies they render to victims and funny enough it ends there as such brutalities persist with worse incidence. 'Sometimes overzealousness takes the greater part of us as we discharge our duties’, 'as human begins, we all make mistakes.' As the Ghanaian proverb goes “I am sorry does not heal wounds”. It is therefore time to act and the law take its course.

This noble profession which has helped shaped our nation in a civilized way, contributing to development, educating and informing has seen military brutalities in recent times. The law of the nation further states that the media and for that matter media practitioners are the fourth arm of government. This shows how relevant media practitioners are to nation building. However, their activities and operations have been marred by military men. The worse of it all has been that a couple of such incidents happen during state functions. Is the military and the media therefore at war in service to the nation?

In the case of the recent happening, Kendrick offei Ansah’s unfortunate incident could have been prevented if the previous happenings were dealt with amicably. I further want to believe that such victims have accreditation cards suggesting that they were legitimate to operate in their line of duty. Mr. Ansah on the 6th March 2016 was brutally assaulted by military men and now traumatised.

From the psychological point of view he may suffer from the following psychological disorders,

POST TRUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

As much as I believe every occupation comes with some occupational hazards, can we call this preventable incident a typical example?
Posttraumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, such as what Mr. Ansah suffered from the military. His symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to the trauma-related cues, as he may attempt to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in how he thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms may last for more than a month after the event. These where observed in his is account of his ordeal during interviews on various media platforms. He may further have no interest in the profession if he does not seek counselling and justice is meted to such perpetrators. The worse which we pray against may be a higher risk of contemplating suicide.

SPECIFIC PHOBIA

A specific phobia is any kind of anxiety disorder that amounts to an unreasonable or irrational fear related to exposure to specific objects or situations. As a result, the affected person ( Mr. Ansah) may tend to avoid actively direct contact with the objects or situations and, in severe cases, any mention or depiction of them. The fear can, in fact, be disabling to their daily lives. With this in mind, Mr Ansah may suffer specific phobia any time he comes into contact with military personnel when he is on his line of duty. His fear or anxiety may be triggered both by the presence and the anticipation military men at some state functions also. He may further show signs of fear or express discomfort.

In some cases, it can result in a panic attack. In most adults, the person may logically know the fear is unreasonable but still find it difficult to control the anxiety. Thus, this condition may significantly impair Mr. Ansah’s functioning and even physical health.

If we didn’t know, they are the harm military men are causing to our media personnel and some vulnerable citizens as a whole. Military men are not law makers but rather law enforcers and need to work in the confines of the law. May God bless our home land Ghana.