Presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama has pledged to ensure the freedom of journalists in the discharge of their duties.

Underscoring the crucial role of journalists in the country, former President Mahama bemoaned the present challenges Ghanaian journalists are going through and promised to improve the situation if he returns to power.

“The best thing you can give the media is to give them the freedom to do their work. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened under this government. Media people have been hounded, some have run into exile, some have been threatened, their lives have been threatened and indeed some have paid the ultimate price like Ahmed Suale did,” the former president recalled.

The former president said he would work to ensure the hazards journalists go through are minimized.

“You can trust that as a person who is a member of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) myself, I am not the kind of person who would hound the media and so one gift I can gift to you is the freedom to do your work without anybody intimidating and harassing you,” Mahama pledged.

According to the World Press Index 2024, Ghana ranks 62nd out of 180 countries. The country’s press freedom landscape has been described as “problematic”.