The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) strongly condemns physical attacks against journalists reporting on the parliamentary election re-run taking place at Ablekuma North, a constituency in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana today, July 11, 2025.
Three journalists, Kwabena Agyekum Banahene of the EIB Network; Salomey Martey of the Multimedia Group; and Vida Wiafe of Amansan TV (ATV) were assaulted while they were reporting from polling stations in the constituency.
In the first incident, Kwabena Agyekum Banahene, was slapped by a police officer while at the Church of Pentecost, North Odorkor 4 Polling Station in the Tswuim Electoral Area. The attack, captured in a viral video, shows the officer manhandling the journalist who was visibly identifiable as a member of the press.
Banahene confirmed the incident to the MFWA in a telephone interview after lodging a complaint and obtaining a medical report at the Odorkor Police Station. He was admitted at the Cocoa Clinic at Kaneshie in Accra for treatment. He told the MFWA that he was traumatised and was feeling severe pains in his, “right eye and bruises on my face.”
We commend the Ghana Police Service, who in a statement has announced that the officer concerned has been recalled and will be facing internal disciplinary procedures.
“The officer concerned has been withdrawn from the ongoing election duty at Ablekuma North; and in line with internal disciplinary procedures, he has been interdicted and referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) for investigation,” the police statement read.
In another incident, a journalist from Multimedia Group was also manhandled by a partially masked man whose identity could not be ascertained.
In the third incident, a journalist with ATV, Vida Wiafe, was attacked with pepper spray while covering the elections at the Methodist Church at the St. Peter’s Society polling station.
Speaking to the MFWA, she said the media were trying to get an interview but were being blocked by police. “Then I suddenly heard what sounded like shots. I don’t think they were gunshots, but honestly, I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I turned my head to see where the sound was coming from, and that’s when I was pepper sprayed. I went unconscious the moment I was pepper sprayed.”
These attacks are a clear affront to press freedom and highly unbefitting of a country that is touted as a beacon of democracy in the West Africa region.
It is particularly worrying that such incidents are happening in the Ablekuma area again, given that Pius Kwanin Asiedu of the online news portal newswatchgh.com was shot in the left leg while covering the collation of election results at the Ablekuma Central collation centre during the 2020 general elections.
Government authorities, both local and national, need to take appropriate steps to ensure that the constituency does not become a hotspot for election-related violence and attacks against journalists.
The state security agencies and the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) must also deploy circumspection and tact in the management of elections in the said area to avert future recurrence of violence against journalists, which not only dents the democratic credentials of the country, but also violates the country’s press freedom as guaranteed in the 1992 Constitution.
As the elections are ongoing, the MFWA calls on both state and non-state actors involved in the Ablekuma North parliamentary election rerun to exercise restraint, uphold the rule of law, and respect the rights of all stakeholders, especially the media, who are fundamentally carrying out their duties to inform Ghanaians and the rest of the world about the entire process.
The MFWA urges the EC and state security agencies managing the elections to accord journalists the necessary courtesies to facilitate and ensure a comprehensive coverage of the election.
The MFWA also calls on the Police Administration to ensure that the findings of the PPSB are made public and that the officer is held accountable if found culpable. This will serve as a deterrent to other state security agents, who our monitoring often cites as the main perpetrators of press freedom and freedom of expression violations in Ghana.
We stand in solidarity with the victims and their media outlets and call on all stakeholders to unite in protecting journalists and preserving the sanctity of press freedom in Ghana by calling out perpetrators of freedom of expression and press freedom violations.
