The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, says it’s not surprising that Ghana has been ranked low in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
His comment comes on the back of the rankings by Reporters Without Borders where Ghana dropped 30 places to 60th globally, and 10th in Africa.
This is Ghana’s lowest-ever ranking in almost two decades after it ranked 66th and 67th in 2005 and 2002 respectively..
The latest report is out of 180 countries assessed with Ghana recording a decline in its indicative points from 78.67 percent to 67.43 compared to last year.
Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, said government must put in measures to enhance press freedom in the country.
“The signals were clear and some of us had always raised concerns about developments in the country. I have had cause to say that this government has had the weakest media in terms of critical journalism and it is experiencing the most repressive tendencies in terms of press freedom.”
“I am not surprised, to say the least. As I said with the developments we were seeing in this country, it is not surprising that other countries have overtaken us. I however did not expect that we drop this low.”
Recently, the US Department of State also released its 2021 annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which reports on key human rights issues in various countries across the world including Ghana.
The report cited Ghana for a number of human rights abuses including clamping down on free speech.
Some specific cases mentioned in the report included the killing of social activist, Kaaka in Ejura, and the arrest and abuse of Citi FM/Citi TV’s Caleb Kudah.
Posted by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh
