By Ghana Eye Report
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the arrest and detention of veteran journalist Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah by operatives of the National Security, this is according to a statement released by the party on Thursday.
According to the statement signed by party General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, the unlawful action by the marauding operatives of the National Security is the latest instalment of the ongoing series of state-sponsored attacks on the media by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government in their desperate attempt to silence the media and curtail press freedom.
The party condemned the action by the National Security operatives and commended well-meaning Ghanaians and a team of lawyers who spoke against the action as well as stormed the National Security Secretariat to see to the release of the detained journalist.
“The NPP wishes to remind President Mahama and his government that the Ghana that was bequeathed to them on January 7, 2025, was a free country. It was the bastion of democracy, underpinned not only by the existence of functioning democratic institutions but also by our unflinching commitment to upholding press freedom as enshrined in Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution,” said the statement.
The opposition party emphasized it believes in press freedom hence went through the painstaking process of repealing the Criminal and Seditious Libel Law in 2001.
The NPP emphasized that it was therefore repugnant and unacceptable for the Mahama-led administration to be using State Security to intimidate political opponents as well as media personnel in a bid to silence all critical voices.
The party called on the Ghana Journalists Association, the Media Foundation for West Africa, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and all stakeholders to join in demanding immediate end to what they described as “tyranny and growing culture of state-sponsored attacks on the media.”
Meanwhile, reports indicate Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah has been released by the National Security. Enditem
Source: Ghana Eye Report
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