Ghana / Africa

Ghanaian Police Inspector General John Kudalor on May 26, 2016, told reporters in the capital Accra that police were considering blocking Facebook, Twitter and all other social media during general elections scheduled to be held in December 7, according to media reports.

Officers of the Bureau of National Investigation, Ghana’s national security agency, arrested Ghanaian-Lebanese columnist and author Fadi Dabbousi on September 23, 2016, upon his arrival from Lebanon at Kotoka International Airport, according to news reports.

An access to information bill currently under consideration in Ghana will do more harm than good, according to the Coalition on the Right to Information in Ghana, which has called for a review of the proposed legislation. 

On July 2, 2013, nine judges on Ghana’s Supreme Court convicted Ken Kuranchie, editor-in-chief of the Daily Searchlight, of criminal contempt in connection with his critical articles. The journalist was sentenced to 10 days in jail, according to news reports.

Several journalists reported being attacked in the aftermath of Ghana’s contested presidential elections on December 7, 2012, according to CPJ interviews, news reports, and local press freedom organizations.

New York, May 16, 2012–President Obama should acknowledge the role that independent news reporting plays in assessing agricultural challenges and facilitating the response to famine, the Committee to Protect Journalists stated in a letter to the White House. Ethiopia in particular downplays the extent of food crises and undermines the ability of donor nations and aid groups to help by denying journalists access to sensitive areas and censoring independent coverage.

New York, July 23, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ghana’s attorney general to drop prosecution of prominent journalist Ato Kwamena Dadzie under the 1960 criminal code in an attempt to get him to reveal his sources.