The Ghana Journalists Association, GJA, is challenging the government to take serious action against Ghanaians who have been deported from Australia after they posed as journalists to cover the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
According to the GJA, the country’s image has been dented by the action of the impostors, thus requiring punitive punishment action from the country’s security agencies.
President of the GJA, Affail Monney, noted that it is in the interest of authorities to get to the bottom of the scandal. “The whole nation has been enveloped in shame of unthinkable magnitude and our image stinks, the experts will tell you that image is everything,” he said.
He wants the committee investigating the matter to ensure that those found culpable are held accountable for their actions.
“The only way to attempt to deodorise our stinking image is for the committee which is investigating this matter, not to arrive at the very bottom of the matter, but also to ensure that action is taken to punish the perpetrators of this scandal,” he said.
News broke last week that some 50 Ghanaians had been deported from Australia for impersonation.
These Ghanaians have since been deported to Ghana after they were flagged to be ‘non-genuine travellers’ posing as journalists for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia which kick off last week Wednesday.
According to Australian authorities, although all the affected persons had the right accreditation to enter Australia, they were not convinced they were real journalists as many failed to produce evidence to back their claim.
Minority rejects National Security probe into visa scandal
The opposition in Parliament has rejected a move by the government to refer the Commonwealth Games Visa Scandal to the National Security for investigation.
According to the Minority, the incident has tarnished the image of Ghana globally and must be looked into by an independent commission of enquiry under article 278 of the Constitution of Ghana.
In a statement signed by a Ranking Member of the Communications Committee of Parliament, Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini, they insisted that an investigation by the National security will not be deemed credible by both the international and local community.
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