Coalition Calls on Ghanaian Government to Investigate Killing of Journalist

0
172
Late Ahmed Hussein-Suale
Late Ahmed Hussein-Suale

The Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has called on the Government of Ghana to investigate the assassination of Mr. Ahmed Husseini-Suale, an investigative journalist with Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Tiger Eye PI, who was shot and killed on January 16, 2019. The Coalition is calling on the Ghanaian Government to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to justice

In a statement signed by 15 member-organisations of the CWPPF, the Coalition described the killing as “another attempt to incapacitate the press from performing the constitutionally guaranteed function,” labeling the attack as a “major threat to democracy, freedom of the press and individual liberties of journalists and other media professionals worldwide.”

The Group urged the Ghanaian government “to investigate this injustice and try the culprits to the full extent of the law- as chapter 12 of the Ghana constitution guarantees media pluralism and independence.”

According to the statement, Mr. Hussein-Suale, a Ghanaian, before his demise was a member of the investigative journalism team working with Tiger Eye in Ghana. He was said to be on his way home when gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on his vehicle in Madina area of Accra, shooting him twice in the chest and once in the head.

“Mr Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his team which included the late Mr Husseini-Suale have taken on the Ghanaian government and exposed corruption in different sectors of the economy including the 2015 investigation that exposed several judges as taking bribes and forced many of them to resign,” the statement read.

It added: “The death of Mr. Husseini-Suale is the culmination of months of violent threats to members of staff of Tiger Eye, whose management had asked the world to prevail on Ghanaian authorities to guarantee their safety and allow them carry out their constitutionally guaranteed functions.”