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Make safety, health priority – Journalists told
Mr Motey addressing the media
A former Vice Chairman of the Tema Regional Branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ian Motey, has urged journalists not to be over-zealous in their quest to gather facts for stories.
He said in their bid to get stories, it was important for the journalists to make conscious efforts to make their safety and security a priority.
Mr Motey, an Assistant Editor with The Ghanaian Times, the sister newspaper of the The Spectator, gave the advice at a media training programme on Wednesday.
He lectured on the topic ‘Ensuring safety of media personnel on the field.’
According to the experienced Journalist, using observational skills was one of the ways by which media personnel can protect themselves and lessen exposure to the public in the course of duty.
Observational skills are qualities and proficiencies that relate to a person’s ability to use one or more of their senses to acknowledge, analyse, understand and recall their surroundings and the elements within it.
According to him, the use of such skills would not draw unnecessary attention and if effectively used, those around would not notice the presence of a journalist covering an event.
“In coverage for riots and demonstrations, journalists must be more observant in order not to get exposed. If possible, don’t expose yourself at all. Sometimes you don’t even have to let people know that you are a journalist. You even have to hide your tags on some occasions,” he advised.
He said occasionally, the journalist can leave a crowded area to a secluded place to write a few points and quickly come back so that he/she would not draw unnecessary attention to him or herself.
Mr Motey said a media person on the field must also avoid making comments for or against any group or individual during an event because one could not tell who was listening.
“It’s better to be discreet and also adopt the use of technology so that what the journalist is doing would not be so obvious.
He said that since the courts were also sensitive places to report from, media personnel must ensure that they got the right training to avoid inaccurate reportage to draw disaffection from any of the parties or even the judiciary.
A journalist, he said should not feel embarrassed to contact technical people for advice where some terms were not easily understood.
“It is important to build hard-core evidence so that in case of any suits against journalists, you will be well-placed to put up a defence,” he said and added that, “journalists must take their health and well-being seriously because the demands of the job comes with a lot of stress.”
Media persons, he said sometimes starved themselves, avoided sleep and worked so hard just to ensure they gave the public the best and in the process made a lot of compromises which become detrimental to their health.
Mr Motey called on the media to be fair and firm in their reportage, and be sensitive to issues of national security because according to him, some stories could compromise the peace and security of the country.
“Just because you have access to some information does not necessarily mean you should publish it. You have to be very discerning,” he noted.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Ashaiman
The Ghana Police Service has launched a manhunt for Prince Krah, a 30-year-old military officer, in connection with the brutal murder of a couple at Saki, near Tema Golf City.
A GH₵100,000 reward has been offered for any credible information leading to his arrest.The victims, identified as Ebenezer Kwabena Obiri, 45, and Mary Anim, 22, were discovered dead in their chamber-and-hall apartment on May 1, 2026.
According to police reports, both bodies bore multiple machete wounds. Investigators established that the suspect had been cohabiting with the couple prior to the incident.
Police records indicate that Mr. Obiri was last seen alive in the company of Krah on the night of April 30.
Following preliminary investigations, the Kpone Magistrate Court issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest on May 4.Krah is described as being approximately 5.7 feet tall, dark in complexion, and of stout build.
He was last seen wearing a Lacoste shirt and jeans.Security intelligence suggests that Krah has gone into hiding and may be seeking refuge within the Kakusunanka area or the Kamina Barracks in Tamale.
They have urged the public to exercise caution and report any sightings of the suspect to the nearest police station or via the emergency toll-free lines 191 or 112.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The minority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called for the immediate release of former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Food Buffed Stock Company, NAFCO over what he describe as extra judicial harassment.
In a statement by the minority leader, he noted that “I have become aware of the unwarranted arrest and incarceration of the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company, Abdul-Wahab Hanan Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) yesterday, 5th May, 2026.”
Mr.Afenyo-Markins described the incident as a needless and face-saving arrest adding that “followed one year of arraignment of the two accused persons with 3 others in court on charges whose weakness and frivolity were exposed by defence counsel through objections raised and upheld by the court at the Case Management Conference held in the course of the trial.”
According to him the Attorney-General, in response to the objections raised and in a bid to boost the weak prosecution he had initiated, attempted to introduce fresh witness statements without leave of the court, contrary to the rules governing the conduct of criminal proceedings in the Republic.
He added that when an objection was raised again by defence counsel led by Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame and same was upheld by the court, the Attorney-General’s next move was to withdraw all the charges against the accused persons.
According to him “One would have thought that EOCO would step back, conduct more thorough investigations and understand the matter before deciding whether to charge the accused persons again or not.”
“However, in an impulsive and knee-jerk reaction, EOCO re-arrested Mr. Hanan Abdul-Wahab and his wife for offences unknown to even his legal team and whisked them off to the EOCO office. Strangely, they have been refused bail and have been kept in custody since yesterday, even though they were on bail granted by the court just before the charges were withdrawn,” he added.
He further noted that Hanan’s lawyers, who were at the offices of EOCO from about 11 am until 8 pm last night, were denied access to him.
This according to the Afenyo-Markin the conduct of EOCO, the Attorney-General and the Government as a whole, in harassing and torturing these innocent citizens of the land in the manner described above, very shameful, reprehensible and most unworthy of a healthy democracy that Ghana has struggled to build the past 33 years.
He therefore added that the law enforcement processes should be deployed to deal with actual wrongdoing in accordance with due process and not utilised as a propagandist machinery for the Government by arresting and detaining leading members of the opposition as a way of purporting to give meaning to the Government’s failed ORAL promise.
“I take note that the Attorney-General held a massive press conference last year, cited the Buffer Stock case as a major example of the ORAL drive, and vilified these same accused persons as having stolen money from the State when he had not even filed any charges against them,” he added.
“EOCO’s move in rearresting the accused persons after charges had been withdrawn (after a whole year of subjecting the accused persons to unnecessary assassination of their character) is clearly a desperate attempt to save the face of the Attorney-General and sustain a false impression of a continuation of the Government’s failed ORAL promise,” he noted.
“The EOCO boss, Raymond Archer, must learn to operate in accordance with due process like his predecessors used to do. That important institution of State must not be turned into a rogue outfit for harassing and torturing innocent citizens extra judicially when the Government becomes frustrated by a failure to prove offences levelled against them in a court of law, as we have seen in the Buffer Stock,” he said.
“I call on EOCO and the Attorney-General to release Hanan Abdul-Wahab and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni immediately.This impunity must stop,” he concluded.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
