End attack on free expression now – NDC to Akufo-Addo

The National Democratic Congress has called on President Akufo-Addo, to cease what they describe as an attack on freedom of expression.

According to the party, they have observed with utter dismay, the calculated onslaught on media freedom and free speech by the president, which is increasingly showing dictatorial and autocratic tendencies.

The NDC observed that there has been a dramatic upsurge in the criminalization of free speech and unbridled attack on the
journalists.

In a statement, they stated that “in the last few weeks, four journalists have suffered police brutalities and in some cases unfair judicial conviction.”

“Journalists are being cowed into silence through the atmosphere of oppression and harassment. It is the modus operandi of autocrats and despots to create an atmosphere of fear to silence the voice of opposition and free speech,” the statement read

The opposition was worried that the police appeared to be aiding the oppressors to hound citizens of Ghana.

While accusing the president of double standards, they added that recent events exposes duplicity and hypocrisy by the president, whose claim to fame as a
human rights activist, was his work on the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law
when he was an Attorney General.

To buttress their point, the NDC cited the barbaric murder of an investigative journalist, Mr. Ahmed Suale, following his expose of the involvement of the President and his Vice in the Kwesi Nyantakyi – bribery scandal.

They also stated that four journalists, including Captain Smart, Oheneba Boamah
Bennie and Kwabena Bobie Ansah, have suffered police brutalities and in
some cases unfair judicial conviction.

They called on Civil Society Organizations, the GJA and members of the Moral Society to speak out against the blatant acts of repression to safeguard Ghana’s democracy.