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An international media watchdog, Reporters sans frontieres, has asked the Ghana government to reverse its censorship of news on the Dagbon ethnic clash in the north of the country.
In a letter to Information Minister Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, RSF said "no medium in Ghana has incited any murders" and that it was "important that the citizens of Ghana have access to more than just official information". The Paris-based organisation also called for the repeal of the 1994 Emergency Powers Act that the government evoked to impose a news censorship on the conflict.
On 25 March, fighting broke out in Yendi between the Andani and the Abudu clans of the Dagbon Traditional Area, Northern Region, over the celebrations of the annual Bugum (Fire) Festival of the chiefs and people of the area. By the end of the week 28 people had been killed, including Paramount Chief Ya-Na Yakibu Andani II. Dozen others were injured. President John Kufuor imposed a state of emergency two days later.
Under the Emergency Powers Act of 1994, the president can censor any news from or about an area affected by a state of emergency. Lamptey had said some of the reports on the situation were "highly inflammatory", others "totally untrue" or "ill-motivated".
The muzzling of the media has caused mixed reactions among Ghana's media practitioners, JoyFM reported on Wednesday on its Web Site. While some organisations see the directive as an attempt to gag the press, others have chosen to comply in the interest of national security. Some, however, view the government’s action as a cover up for its lapses in handling the situation, an accusation that Obetsebi-Lamptey refuted, JoyFm reported.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
