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No single security person has been prosecuted for the attacks on more than 25 journalists and media employees since 2006.

Although the perpetrators in some of the cases are identified, the cases are settled sometimes with apologies.

In most cases, however, no compensation is paid, while the security organisation involved promise to offer better working relations with the media.

Checks by the Daily Graphic have revealed a tall list of victims, including reporters, photojournalists, station managers and editors, who have been brutally assaulted by soldiers and policemen.

Some of the attacks have left journalists with serious medical conditions. For instance, the Daily Graphic’s Victor Kwawukume has lost his sense of smell as a result of being beaten by the Ho Police while covering a swoop on criminals.

In another instance, Mr Latif Iddrisu, a journalist with the Multimedia Group, was left with a fractured skull after the police had brutally assaulted him in front of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in Accra while reporting on a protest by some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the detention of the then Deputy General Secretary of the party, Mr Koku Anyidoho, in July 2018.


But when it comes to prosecution, in some instances the police told the victims that the dockets on their cases were missing, turning the case into what is known as ‘foolish case’.

“My case did not get anywhere. It got to a point where they were just tossing me up and down at the Police Headquarters. Eventually, they said they couldn’t find the docket.

There was no apology, no prosecution; just frustration,” Ms. Gifty Lawson, a photojournalist with the Daily Guide, recounted the aftermath of her assault in 2012.

She was assaulted when she was covering the cocaine-turned-soda case which led to the dismissal of Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mrs. Gifty Tehoda, who was later reinstated after winning a suit against her dismissal.

For two weeks Ms Lawson said she stayed at home, traumatized and scared.

Memories of officers of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) threatening to shoot her for taking pictures of a suspect, while more than 30 policemen looked on unconcerned, gave her nightmares.

The latest incident involving 10 policemen who allegedly assaulted three journalists of the Ghanaian Times last Thursday has raked the wounds of the past, with journalists urging their umbrella body, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), to declare a blackout on police activities nationwide.

Tamale

A photojournalist with the Ghanaian Times, Mr Geoffrey Buta, who was also beaten in Tamale in March 2014 for trying to take a picture of a confrontation between some military personnel and some youth of the area, told the Daily Graphic that until drastic action was taken, such as prosecution and a blackout, the situation would continue.

“In my case, they said they would deal with our Accra office to handle the issue. Nothing came out of it. It became a foolish case. With this current incident, we must not allow it to go.

Something must be done, otherwise they know they can beat us and get away with it.

“Tomorrow, they will invite us to cover their assignments, then beat us the next day and apologise. If these people are not prosecuted to serve as an example to others, they will continue to disrespect us,” he said.