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Mensah Thompson, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), has strongly rebuked Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), for his opposition to the Ghana Journalists Association’s (GJA) directive to blacklist Members of Parliament accused of assaulting journalists.
The directive, aimed at Hawa Koomson, MP for Awutu Senya East, and Farouk Mahama, MP for Yendi, drew dissent from Ayeboafo, who deemed it “dysfunctional and unproductive.” He proposed legal avenues for addressing assaults against journalists instead.
In an interview on Breakfast Daily with David Kwaku Sakyi on February 12, 2024, Thompson expressed disappointment with Ayeboafo’s stance. He criticized Ayeboafo as a failed journalist who disregards assaults against his former colleagues.
Thompson said, “He should be ashamed of himself. So you people, they are beating you, they are not paying you well, they are disrespecting you, you rise to the position when you can take decisions to protect your fellow members, look at the ridiculousness of the things he is saying. That I should sit down for somebody to come to my house, come and attack me, come and beat me to a pulp, the following day I should give the same person a platform to come and talk, according to this man, a former journalist.”
Thompson’s criticism underscores the divide over how to address assaults on journalists, highlighting the need for unity in protecting press freedom.
