August 6, 1998 By Bunmi Aborisade

Accra - Whether we like it or not, Messrs Kweku Baaku, Haruna Attah and Ato Sam, editors of The Crusading Guide, The Statesman, and Free Press respectfully have been sentenced to one month imprisonment each. Even with our protests here and there, they are already in jail.

That is to say, the law has spoken. Whether wrongly or not, that is another issue entirely. The reality of the moment that we must all learn to understand and live with is that they have been in prison.

But that is not the struggle. What has become imperative for us all at this moment is to know that the three editor are paying the price they have to pay for being a journalist. They have got their own baptism of fire - leaving the rest of us to begin to think about our fate in the profession and more importantly when it will be our turn to head for the prison yard, not as armed robbers anyway, but as watchdogs of the oppressed people of the society.

If we can accept this reality as journalists, I see no reason why we should see any imprisonment, detention or harassment in the course of practising our profession as something dehumanising. It should rather be a tag of honour. Whether we like it or not it will come when it will come. So we must all be prepared for it. This brings us back to our worn-out cliche which says if they come for your brother in the morning, it may be your turn in the evening. So today it is the turn of Baaku, Atta and Sam. Who knows whose turn it will be tomorrow. We should all be prepared, be you a journalist or anything in the type of environment we all find ourselves today.

But recent developments in the media scene in the country have actually exposed those who pay lip service to press freedom Those who claim to be human rights activists when in the actual sense of the word they are not. We all know where we belong in the scheme of things as far as the profession of journalism in the country is concerned.

Different organisations have issued letters of protest against the sentencing of our colleagues, protest matches have been held, vigils have been held, while some friends of free expression from all walks of life in the country have taken the pain to visit the jailed editors in prison and their families. Yet, there are still some journalists in the country and some who call themselves friends of democracy and press freedom who have not participated in any of these activities for one reason or another.

Irrespective of what we do solidarity or otherwise when these colleagues of ours are in jail, they shall soon be free like us to and then they may have the opportunity to assess the role we all played when they were in trouble. Those who have shown solidarity with them when they were in trouble will soon know that they have given out an I.O.U. which they will soon reap when the time comes to do so.

Last week, I visited two of the jailed editors in their prison yards and I was highly impressed at the rate at which some well-meaning people in the society support the media. I could not believe my eyes when I ran into an NDC strong woman (name withheld for security reasons) at the gate of Kweku Baako's in Winneba. This is the type of person the society needs and not those who have allowed party politics to blindfold their sense of reasoning. I am sure Kweku himself would be impressed by the rate at which he receives visitors in prison. I knew how impressed he was when he was brought out of the prison cell to meet me and the colleagues at the office of the director of Winneba prison, who assured us that he was in a safe hands. We chatted and chatted with Kweku and he almost did not want us to leave but we had to because there were other visitors waiting to see him.

When I got to Sam's prison at Anomabu, I was impressed by the high spirit in which I met him. He was highly impressed seeing me all the way from Accra. On sighting me at the gate of the prison, he raised up his two hands to receive cheers from me. He looked unperturbed just like Kweku. Though I have not been able to visit Haruna, the journalist after my heart, I am sure the situation with him is not too different from those of Sam and Kweku. I am aware the rate at which people troop to his present abode at Akuse prison is unprecedented in the history of the prison.

But one question one must ask is what becomes of the three editors after they have completed their jail terms. For sure, Kweku and Haruna will go back to their jobs. But what happens to Sam whose job is already on the line, with a probe into his conduct as the editor of the Free Press. Before he was jailed he was already on suspension from his duty post as an editor and from all indications, he might end up losing his job.

But if the publisher of the Free Press cares to review the stand on Sam's case, I think it is necessary to drop all charges against its suspended editor in the said probe and grant him general amnesty. This has become necessary to compensate the editor for what he has suffered in prison. The publisher should not also forget how courageous Sam was in defence of the publication when some hired protesters demonstrated against the Free Press and called for its ban for publishing a perceived offensive story on the First Lady.

Aboveall, I think the publishers of the Free Press would realise that a fundamental mistake had been made by allowing a public 'probe' in Sam's case because some people are already playing politics with the whole issue.

To my mind, the probe, instead of redeeming the image of the publication as the publisher thought, will go a long way in tarnishing the image of the publication because some politicians are beginning to catch on the opportunity provided by the probe to hang the suspended editor. So I wish the probe panel is dismantled and Sam allowed to return to his post as the editor of Free Press. Any challenger? See you next week.

Source; The Ghanaian Independent