The issue of media freedom in Ghana keeps coming up whenever there is an altercation or clash between media persons and personnel from the country’s security services who sometimes act on ‘orders from above’.
Ghana’s law; specifically, Article 164; talks about freedom of expressions but maintains that same can be fettered on grounds of national security, public order, public morality, actions that go against the reputations, rights and responsibilities of other citizens.
In the same vein, the NCA Act on content also spells out the kind of materials which cannot be broadcasted on registered media by owners.
Editor of digital news platform, Whatsup News became a victim of circumstance after he was arrested by Police personnel for publishing false news content about a government official in early April 2021.
This would be the second time David Tamakloe has suffered same fate within the space of 6 months, having been picked up in October 2020.
After spending about 24 hours in detention at the National Police Headquarters, the father of two was released on bail without a charge.
Speaking on GhanaWeb’s #SayItLoud programme David Tamakloe asserts that he was set up by the contact he had set out to interview at Afrikiko in Accra.
“it was unnecessary the way the police came in to use state powers in arresting me.
“...When my statement was being taken, I was told that I had published false news. And I recall I was interviewing a character in the story that I’m investigating and that story, particularly is still under investigation; we have not published anything about it.
“So, it was difficult to understand why anybody would arrest me or would charge me for publishing false news in that particular case.
“We hadn’t started any story at all. Sometimes you are doing a story, you’ll want to do promo for some strategic reasons but this wasn’t the case here,” David Tamakloe responded when asked about the said false publication which led to his arrest by security service.
Watch him give vivid details of his ordeal with the National Security to Laud Adu-Asare on #SayItLoud:
