155 aggrieved Journalists petition Prez. Mahama

• Posted on October 15, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Some 155 aggrieved journalists from over 40 media organisations across the country have petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to sanction one of his presidential staffers, Stan Dogbe.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) initiated the move to petition the president, calling for the sanctioning of Stan Dogbe for his unruly behaviour towards journalists in the country.

The petition followed Mr Dogbe’s assault on Yahayah Kwamoah, a journalist with state-run Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), two months ago.

In an incident that many have described as shameful and embarrassing, the presidential staffer seized and destroyed the journalist’s recording equipment at the 37 Military Hospital.

The journalist had gone to the hospital to follow-up on developments around the presidential press corps who had been involved in a serious accident that left one journalist dead and others seriously injured.

“It is important to point out that the aggression by your staffer happened at a sad moment for journalists: when colleagues covering your office had been involved in a serious accident that resulted in the death of one colleague with others sustaining serious injuries,” the petitioners said.

The petitioners stated: “We are concerned that over a month after the incident and despite the several pleas from many people and organisations, your office has not acted on the matter.”

According to them, “It is our considered view that the conduct of a staff of your highly esteemed office has a direct bearing on the reputation of the office. We, therefore, call on you to show personal commitment to the rights of journalists and your intolerance of acts that may bring your highly esteemed office into disrepute.”

Stan Dogbe Again!

Meanwhile, Mr Dogbe, who takes pride in humiliating journalists, is in the news again for a similar alleged misconduct.

The presidential staffer has reportedly incurred the wrath of residents of Sekondi-Takoradi for his alleged comment on the accident involving some journalists from the Western Region on Monday.

The journalists, who were returning from President John Mahama’s commissioning of a new community senior high school at Bamiankor in the region, reportedly had an accident after one of the Pick-ups in the president’s convoy crashed with their (journalists’) vehicle, a Toyota mini bus.

But Mr Dogbe shockingly took to his social media platform, Facebook, to rubbish the journalists’ claim that they had been involved in an accident, even though eyewitness accounts confirmed their claim.

BY Melvin Tarlue