The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has expressed disappointment in the ruling issued by an Achimota District Court against some sixteen members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) who invaded the studios of UTV on Saturday, October 7, 2023.

According to the President of GJA, Albert Dwumfuor, the police pressed weak and inappropriate charges against the suspects who ended up with lean fines of GHC2,400 each.

“The Ghana Journalists Association and other allied bodies have met to discuss the ruling and we feel disappointed in the ruling, we are not happy. We are saying so because we all can bear witness to what happened last Saturday which was captured on video and spread across social media. We have also visited Despite Media and received firsthand account of what transpired,” he stated.

He went ahead to describe the charges as fanciful and aimed at getting the culprits a soft judgement.

“We can all attest to the fact that those who came there did not have the permission to enter the premises and that amounted to unlawful entry which is clearly defined in our laws. We were expecting that to be the first charge but that was conspicuously missing.

“Secondly, we understand they assaulted two employees including a director of photography and a production team member, Isaac. That assault aspect was also missing from the charge sheet by the police. With assault missing, causing harm also went missing in the charges pressed against them, so when you look at the two charges that we left out, we come to the conclusion that the charge of conspiracy to commit crime and rioting which was pressed against them are weak charges. The charges were fanciful and weak to just get them this sentence and we at GJA are not happy with it,” the president told UTV in an interview.

While further describing the judgement as not deterring to the trend of attacks against journalists, Albert Dwumfuor urged the judiciary to treat cases of assault on journalists with seriousness.

The group of NPP supporters invaded the studios of UTV and interrupted the live production of United Showbiz.

The thugs who stormed the studios claimed they had come in search of regular pundit, Kwame A Plus who had torn up a letter written to the management of United Showbiz by the leadership of the NPP.

The said letter was entreating the producers of United Showbiz to reform the program on grounds of the programme becoming political and being used as a platform to persistently attack the president and the government.

Police charges leveled against the 'NPP thugs' were inappropriate and too weak - Albert Kwabena Dwumfuor#UTVNews pic.twitter.com/G3qIM9Rbjb

— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) October 16, 2023