Member of Parliament for Effia, Isaac Boamah-Nyarko, has launched a strong critique of the Ghanaian media, accusing journalists of remaining mute on the rising number of assaults on their colleagues due to political appointments offered under the current administration.
Boamah-Nyarko did not hold back in expressing his dismay: “I am really surprised about you, the journalists, behaving this way as if nothing is happening,” Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Thursday.
He went on to claim that media personnel had become compromised. “This is because journalists are being appointed. They are being given political appointments. So they have become beneficiaries of the government, and that is why they are silent on their people,” he stated.
The MP linked the alleged silence to what he described as deliberate media capture by President John Dramani Mahama’s administration. “If you have a smart government like Mahama, who has been President before and understands how media support helps push the government agenda, and you see the media being bought, then you must be worried.”
Boamah-Nyarko further expressed alarm over the failure of journalists to stand up for their own: “Why will the media allow itself to sink to 13 clear cases of assault against its own and not do anything about it?”
His remarks follow allegations by JoyNews journalist Carlos Carlony, who reported being assaulted and briefly detained by National Security personnel while covering a demolition operation at a warehouse reportedly owned by prominent businessman Daniel McKorley, also known as McDan.
Carlony claimed soldiers questioned why his crew was filming the event, and despite identifying themselves as journalists, an officer struck him from behind just as he was about to go live. The incident has since raised questions about press freedom and the safety of journalists operating in Ghana.
