“WE WOULD KEEP OUR EYES ON YOU IN TOWN”, “YOU ARE BECOMING A PROBLEM”. Those were the exact words of these government officials to the Journalist.
My News Ghana has gathered that a popular local-based freelance Journalist Abraham Nlenkiba Njonam, was summoned by the Bimbilla Municipal Chief Executive and the Divisional Police Commander and seriously threatened for reporting bad happenings from the Assembly.
His work as a journalist actually unraveled some negative happening, which to the aforementioned officials considered such as wrong.
Peradventure, these officials who are preventing the work of this journalist are much aware of those negative happenings but allow their prevalence due to their personal gains.
One of the characteristics of a good citizen is the one who reports bad happenings in the society to the authority ,also a good citizen is the one who protects the rights of others especially the vulnerable in the society but is like as the former U.S.A president Barack Obama once said when he visited Ghana, that the problem we are facing in Ghana is as a results of weak institutions. Is like the Ghanaian institutions do not want the laws and principle of justice to work.
The police Commander warned the young freelancer and told him that their eyes on the young man and he is warning him to be careful the way he does his journalism in Bimbilla. The police Commander gave these warnings in the Municipal Chief executive office in Bimbilla on August 26, 2019, when the locally based freelancer was invited to meet the MUSEC for Making a report on the extortion of money by the CHRAJ office in Bimbilla. Present in the meeting included: the MCE, the Military Commander, the Police Commander, The Ghana immigration Service officer, and another person believed to be a National security person. Others included the ‘Tindana’ of Dalanyili and an Accused widow who was dragged to CHRAJ for cutting a fell tree branch for Charcoal.
The MCE during the meeting told the freelancer that, he (Freelancer) is becoming a problem in town, he further made a statement that “there is this story about him in town, when he leaves here I would tell you”(that is, the members of MUSEC)
this statement has a toll on the life of the local reporter because he is not privy to what that could be or mean!
The police Commander made reference to a case that happened early part of 2019 when a facebook imposter who beat war drums was identified and reported to the chairman of MUSEC in Bimbilla by the freelancer, the said imposter was referred to the police to make a statement and later warned and released. The freelancer then
Published a story of the case and both the police commander and the MCE have not been happy with the report.
The reporter’s views were that people are punished or exposed so as to serve as a deterrent to others, so if in cases like this, one conceals it, then it has not achieved its purpose.
The freelancer reporter feels insecure in Bimbilla town because of what the police Commander and the MCE are saying/Planning.
Before The Journalist Was Summoned and Threatened
The bone of contention in the whole issue goes this way,
There is this widow in a village Called Dalanyili in the Nanumba South District of the Northern region called Ajofi Jato.
This widow saw a branch of a tree that fell due to a rainstorm and according to her, the same tree had one of its branches fallen down last year and one of the women from the community (the custodians of the land wife) went with her to cut the fell branch for charcoal and this year when another branch fell,she too went and cut half of it and used for charcoal,the “tindana” by name Damba Amidu summoned her to appear before his palace of which she complied and was told she has wronged the gods and she is fined to pay 1 goat and 4 fowls to be used to pacify the gods, she did as fined and they
Sacrificed to the gods,after the sacrifice ,the tindana still charged her to pay Ghc600 to him and when the poor widow couldn’t get the money, she was reported to Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) office in Bimbilla and the CHRAJ messenger who delivered the invitation letter to her requested Ghc200 from the poor widow for their transportation. The next day, they went to the CHRAJ office and the poor widow’s son Abdul Malik Jato who represented the mother was not allowed to talk, any attempt he made to talk the CHRAJ officers verbally assaulted him calling him a fool.
The CHRAJ went further to ask them to pay the Ghc600 to the “Tindana” and pay them their Ghc200 but the respondent insisted he did not have the money so the only Ghc20 he had on him was taken by the CHRAJ officers. He was however given an ultimatum of 3 days to pay the money, the default of which, the entire family in the village would be banished.
Three days’ time, the CHRAJ officers called him and asked if the money and when he couldn’t pay, they insulted him on the phone.
Abraham Njonaan Nlenkiba, a trained Social worker upon monitoring this story decided to report it first at the Town Hall meeting in Bimbilla organized by the Peace and Justice Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Yendi and further published a news item on it.
This publication went viral leading to the Bimbilla CHRAJ officers being Queried by the regional CHRAJ.
The Tindana upon realizing that the CHRAJ officers were being questioned went to the MCE to report the case, the MCE then invited the reporter, the respondents, and the complainant and other MUSEC members to a meeting, it was during this meeting that the police Commander issued warnings to the reporter and the MCE told him he was becoming a problem in the town.
One of the MUSEC officers asked the reporter why he is now a mouthpiece to the widow and the son?
The reporter reports that during the meeting, his mobile phone was taken from him and switched it off for fear of recording the proceedings.
The reporter is much concerned about the story MCE hinted is circulating about him the reporter in town and he didn’t want him to know, he is afraid of his life in Bimbilla township.
Source: Mynewsghana.net
My News Ghana has gathered that a popular local-based freelance Journalist Abraham Nlenkiba Njonam, was summoned by the Bimbilla Municipal Chief Executive and the Divisional Police Commander and seriously threatened for reporting bad happenings from the Assembly.
His work as a journalist actually unraveled some negative happening, which to the aforementioned officials considered such as wrong.
Peradventure, these officials who are preventing the work of this journalist are much aware of those negative happenings but allow their prevalence due to their personal gains.
One of the characteristics of a good citizen is the one who reports bad happenings in the society to the authority ,also a good citizen is the one who protects the rights of others especially the vulnerable in the society but is like as the former U.S.A president Barack Obama once said when he visited Ghana, that the problem we are facing in Ghana is as a results of weak institutions. Is like the Ghanaian institutions do not want the laws and principle of justice to work.
The police Commander warned the young freelancer and told him that their eyes on the young man and he is warning him to be careful the way he does his journalism in Bimbilla. The police Commander gave these warnings in the Municipal Chief executive office in Bimbilla on August 26, 2019, when the locally based freelancer was invited to meet the MUSEC for Making a report on the extortion of money by the CHRAJ office in Bimbilla. Present in the meeting included: the MCE, the Military Commander, the Police Commander, The Ghana immigration Service officer, and another person believed to be a National security person. Others included the ‘Tindana’ of Dalanyili and an Accused widow who was dragged to CHRAJ for cutting a fell tree branch for Charcoal.
The MCE during the meeting told the freelancer that, he (Freelancer) is becoming a problem in town, he further made a statement that “there is this story about him in town, when he leaves here I would tell you”(that is, the members of MUSEC)
this statement has a toll on the life of the local reporter because he is not privy to what that could be or mean!
The police Commander made reference to a case that happened early part of 2019 when a facebook imposter who beat war drums was identified and reported to the chairman of MUSEC in Bimbilla by the freelancer, the said imposter was referred to the police to make a statement and later warned and released. The freelancer then
Published a story of the case and both the police commander and the MCE have not been happy with the report.
The reporter’s views were that people are punished or exposed so as to serve as a deterrent to others, so if in cases like this, one conceals it, then it has not achieved its purpose.
The freelancer reporter feels insecure in Bimbilla town because of what the police Commander and the MCE are saying/Planning.
Before The Journalist Was Summoned and Threatened
The bone of contention in the whole issue goes this way,
There is this widow in a village Called Dalanyili in the Nanumba South District of the Northern region called Ajofi Jato.
This widow saw a branch of a tree that fell due to a rainstorm and according to her, the same tree had one of its branches fallen down last year and one of the women from the community (the custodians of the land wife) went with her to cut the fell branch for charcoal and this year when another branch fell,she too went and cut half of it and used for charcoal,the “tindana” by name Damba Amidu summoned her to appear before his palace of which she complied and was told she has wronged the gods and she is fined to pay 1 goat and 4 fowls to be used to pacify the gods, she did as fined and they
Sacrificed to the gods,after the sacrifice ,the tindana still charged her to pay Ghc600 to him and when the poor widow couldn’t get the money, she was reported to Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) office in Bimbilla and the CHRAJ messenger who delivered the invitation letter to her requested Ghc200 from the poor widow for their transportation. The next day, they went to the CHRAJ office and the poor widow’s son Abdul Malik Jato who represented the mother was not allowed to talk, any attempt he made to talk the CHRAJ officers verbally assaulted him calling him a fool.
The CHRAJ went further to ask them to pay the Ghc600 to the “Tindana” and pay them their Ghc200 but the respondent insisted he did not have the money so the only Ghc20 he had on him was taken by the CHRAJ officers. He was however given an ultimatum of 3 days to pay the money, the default of which, the entire family in the village would be banished.
Three days’ time, the CHRAJ officers called him and asked if the money and when he couldn’t pay, they insulted him on the phone.
Abraham Njonaan Nlenkiba, a trained Social worker upon monitoring this story decided to report it first at the Town Hall meeting in Bimbilla organized by the Peace and Justice Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Yendi and further published a news item on it.
This publication went viral leading to the Bimbilla CHRAJ officers being Queried by the regional CHRAJ.
The Tindana upon realizing that the CHRAJ officers were being questioned went to the MCE to report the case, the MCE then invited the reporter, the respondents, and the complainant and other MUSEC members to a meeting, it was during this meeting that the police Commander issued warnings to the reporter and the MCE told him he was becoming a problem in the town.
One of the MUSEC officers asked the reporter why he is now a mouthpiece to the widow and the son?
The reporter reports that during the meeting, his mobile phone was taken from him and switched it off for fear of recording the proceedings.
The reporter is much concerned about the story MCE hinted is circulating about him the reporter in town and he didn’t want him to know, he is afraid of his life in Bimbilla township.
Source: Mynewsghana.net