Kwesi Pratt Jnr is the Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper
• Kwesi Pratt Jnr has expressed worry about the deepening decline in Ghana’s press freedom index
• He is of the view that unchecked incidences in the public space contribute to the dip in the country’s performance on the global level
• He also wants persons in power to be put in check so they do not abuse their authorities
The Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has said that the growing incidences of persons in power abusing their authority and suppressing the freedoms of other citizens, including journalists, could be accounting for the dipping index of Ghana on the global press freedom scale.
He explained that if the country would sit and allow persons in power to continuously abuse their authority, leading people to perpetuate crimes, it could just be contributing to our poor performance on the global index for countries with strong press freedom presences.
“Ghana’s rating on the Press Freedom Index has been dipping consistently over the last 5 years. Somebody must be asking that why is that Ghana is dipping on the Press Freedom Index. What is happening which is causing that dip? And I am quite sure that such statements and the lack of action and so on have contributed to this dip,” he said.
He was responding to a question on the threats by Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, on a journalist, on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana and monitored by GhanaWeb.
He explained that the trend in the country continues to point to the fact that persons in power can get away with anything thing at all when those in opposition easily get prosecuted for statements they make.
He described this as a worrying trend that must be looked at.
“Even in the parts of the world where we claim that the governments are authoritarian and what not, this will not be allowed to pass, but in Ghana, it passes. And here’s the situation that the police is being accused of actually collaboration and protection of a murderer and nothing happens.
“This is a country in which a Member of Parliament can actually sit on television, sit on radio, and instigate people to beat up a journalist, and he says, I’ll pay for it. Now, when somebody says beat somebody and I’ll pay for it, what does it mean? Is it to pay for the fine? Is it to bribe those who are going to be investigating the matter? Is it to bribe the judiciary when the matter gets to the court? This is a very weird situation, and we cannot allow this to continue forever,” he quizzed.
