World Press Freedom Day : Ghanaian PEN Centre celebrates writers, journalists

The Ghanaian Centre of PEN International, an association of writers has commended writers and journalists as World Press Freedom Day is observed.

In a statement signed by the President of Ghana PEN Centre, Frankie Asare-Donkor, the group condemned recent attacks on journalists in the country.

May 3 was declared World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness regarding the importance of freedom of speech and to remind governments of their duties to uphold the right to freedom of expression.

Below is a full statement from PEN to mark the day this year.

The Ghanaian Centre of PEN International, a worldwide association of writers, which promotes literature and defends freedom of expression, wishes to congratulate all writers, journalists, editors, poets, publishers, and others in the promotion of free expression, on the celebration of this year’s World Press Freedom Day., The Centre also wants to celebrate all writers, journalists, and others who have been murdered and imprisoned merely because of their writings.

In celebrating the day, the Ghanaian PEN Centre takes a serious view of recent attacks and maltreatment of journalists and writers by some individuals and organisations in Ghana.

The theme for this year’s celebration as set forth by UNESCO is “Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms: This is your right.”

Reflecting on this year’s theme, the Ghanaian PEN Centre calls on the leadership of Parliament to make every effort to pass the Right to Information Bill which has been before the parliamentarians for the last 13 years.

This bill, which was first presented to Parliament in 2003, was never given any urgent and deserving consideration by the previous Parliaments, hence, it has lapsed for the last 13 years.

We recognise that under the current Parliament some work has been done on the bill, and following serious concerns raised by a coalition of civil society organisations, the Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs reviewed some parts of the bill which prompted the concerns.

Following this, the bill was re-presented to Parliament by the Executive (through the Attorney General and Minister of Justice) on the 25‘ of July, last year, for the second reading of the bill.

This, therefore, cleared the way for your august house to commence discussions on the bill. Regrettably, however, we have not seen any real action by Parliament on the bill since then.

The Right Honourable Speaker, and the Honoumble Majority and Minority Leaders, would agree with us that for a bill as important as the Right to Information Bifi to be before Parliament for 13 good years does not give Ghana and its democratic credentials any good standing among the comity of nations.

In this regard, we appeal to you to the leadership of Parliament to get this bill passed before the end of the tenure of the current Parliament.

The Ghanaian PEN Centre also appeals to organisations and individuals who attack journalists, writers and other media personnel to desist from such practice, while it calls on the Ghana Police Service to take the necessary action against those who attack journalists and writers.

The Ghanaian PEN Centre also appeals to organisations and individuals who attack journalists, writers and other media personnel to desist from such practice, while it calls on the Ghana Police Service to take the necessary action against those who attack journalists and writers.

The Ghanaian PEN Centre condemns the recent attack on three Danish journalists by security personnel of Kibi

Goldfields Limited, a local mining company, at Saainan in the Eastern Region on April 10, this year.

The journalists, Anders Lofstedt, Kristoffer Eriksen and Sandra Haugaard, from a privately owned Danish television company. Impact TV, who were in Ghana recoding a documentary on the country’s mining and environment were attacked by security personnel of Kibi Goldfields Limited, w ho seized their filming and production equipment, in contravention of Article 152(2) of Ghana’s Constitution.

The Ghanaian PEN Centre also calls on government and state agencies including the Ghana Armed Forces and other security agencies to provide a better and conducive environment for journalists who cover state functions and desist from the shabby treatment which some of them, including the Presidency, have in recent times meted out to journalists.