Having our own index is not the solution to Press Freedom – Sulemana Braimah

Sulemana Braimah

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah has said the country could have its own press freedom index but that will not be the solution to addressing the current challenges.

Ghana in the latest ranking of the World Press Freedom Index put together by Reporters Without Borders ranked 60.

After dropping 30 places, government has been highly blamed with many calling for more protection for media practitioners in the country.

For some, the ranking by Reporters Without Borders should be rubbished and a local index created to check the level of Press Freedom in the country.

Although Sulemana Braimah agrees with such calls, he argues that it will not address the challenges facing the press in the country that has resulted in poor performance on the world ranking.

“Even as I wouldn’t say no to doing domestic index, it is still important that we correct whatever we identify not to be right. We were Number One in 2018, why didn’t people talk about doing our local index?

"When we were Number Three in 2019, 2020, and 2021, why didn’t we have conversations about doing our own indexes? I don’t think that the solution to where we find ourselves is to say we should do our own index,” the MFWA boss told TV3 over the weekend during the Key Points programme.

Sulemana Braimah continued, “So we do our own index and say what, that we are number one in Africa?”