Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has questioned the Ghana Police Service’s current method of arresting journalists accused of publishing falsehood.
The Speaker referred to the technique as “rambo style,” saying that it is archaic and should not be encouraged.
Mr. Alban Baggin made the remarks on Friday at a ceremony to dedicate a new office space for the Parliamentary Press Corps.
According to him, “there are some heinous crimes that you can also proceed to arrest. But allegations of misreporting, allegations that are considered as misdemeanours, you proceed to arrest the person, hijack the person by the trousers and lure the person into cells. That belongs to yester-years. Not today.”
JoyNews/AdomNews · Bagbin lashout at Ghana Police Service over rambo style approach in arresting journalists
The arrest of these journalists, according to the Speaker, is an assault to free speech.
“Oftentimes, in our quest as journalists to disseminate the information we have in a timely manner, to beat the deadline set for us, we make some mistakes. Our information do not turn out to be entirely accurate. We end up making some representations. At times, impinging on the integrity and reputation of others.”
According to the Speaker, those who have been harmed by what they call false media publications should seek redress via the rule of law rather than resorting to the use of force by the Ghana Police Service.
“The Police cannot assume responsibility for responsible media practice in Ghana by scanning newspapers and news portals and arresting journalists for errors and misrepresentation. I don’t know how our Police CIDs were trained. That, if there’s an allegation made by a citizen, the first thing is to arrest that citizen. I don’t know where they got that law from.”
He went on to say that it is the National Media Commission’s (NMC) responsibility to guarantee that journalists follow their professional code of ethics and communicate accurate information.
He further remarked that a civil arrest should be performed only if the person has failed to honor earlier invitations or wishes to avoid the ambit of the law.
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SOURCE: myjoyonline
