The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has called on the government to take a more decisive stance in resolving the murder of Ahmed Hussein Suale, a journalist with the private investigative firm Tiger Eye P.I.
The call comes in the wake of the global commemoration of the International Day to End Impunity in Crimes Against Journalists on November 2, 2023.
Speaking to Citi News, Senior Programmes Officer at the MFWA, Muheeb Saeed, said the government has been blowing hot and cold on the issue.
“At times, they give assurances that they are working to ensure that the attackers are identified and punished. And at other times, we hear them speaking clearly which shows that they are in denial,” Saeed said.
He cited the example of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who had said at the Ghana Bar Association that it was premature to conclude that Suale’s death was an attack on press freedom because the motives were unknown.
“It is, indeed, the responsibility of the state to apprehend the perpetrators for us to know the motive and the state cannot take refuge in the absence of the establishment of the truth, regarding the motives,” Saeed said.
“Once, he was a journalist and he had been threatened, and shortly after that threat, he was killed. It is reasonable to say that, he was killed because of his work, unless there’s evidence to the contrary,” he added.
Ahmed Suale, 31, was murdered in Accra in January 2019. His work on several high-profile investigative reports, including one that exposed corruption in Ghanaian football, had made him a target of threats.