Affail Monney can't be President of GJA after "reckless display of cowardice and individualism" - ASEPA

This comes after the group described as a "reckless display of cowardice and individualism" as well as the failure of Affail Monney to uphold and protect the interests of all journalists in the country.

The call follows the brutish arrest and maltreatment of Citi FM/TV journalist Caleb Kudah.

Earlier, Affail Monney accused Kudah of breaching the Association's code of ethics.

He said the journalist breached Article 13 of the Association's constitution.

"Caleb erred as far as our ethics is concerned. He clearly breached the ethics relative to Article 13 of our own code of ethics which specifies journalists should take pictures through fair, straight forward and honest means unless tampered with by national interest.

"His interest here is not so clear. From the face of it, we believe he erred," he said.

He explained that Kudah flouted the law of the land which bans video coverage of security installations.

He said the violation of Article 126 by the journalist may have triggered the use of excessive force during their arrest.

He noted: "Caleb shouldn’t have filmed without permission and Caleb should have realized that place is a security zone and in every security zone, the security laws apply. It is a no-go area as far as photography is concerned and his violation of regulation might have triggered the overreaction from the security operatives."

In reaction to the purported "betrayal" by Affail Monney, ASEPA in a statement signed by the Executive Director, Ernest Thompson said, "Monney has since not been able to justify his claim of the violation of their Code of Ethics or any criminal code of the State which the Journalist had violated which warranted the actions of the operatives.

Caleb Kudah and Zoe Abu-Baidoo Pulse Ghana

"Secondly, whatever Code of Ethics Mr. Monney was referring to is also subservient to the Constitution of the Land, our Criminal Statutes and any other enactment of Parliament and for which reason its violation should not attract this level of response from the so-called National Security or any other security agency."

According to ASEPA, the comments of Affail Monney only go to encourage the further abuse of journalists in their line of duty to the citizenry by security agencies.

This, the group said, dents the reputation of the GJA as a body interested in the protection and promotion of the rights of journalists in the country.

"What Mr. Monney has done is to encourage the brutal assault of Journalists (which has become the current norm) if the Security Agencies are convinced that the Journalist breached any law.

"So once they are convinced that a journalist violated any law, they are free to exact any form of violence and abuse on the person, that cannot be good for the optics coming from the GJA President," it said.

ASEPA added that "We believe this is a betrayal of the GJA and its President not only to Mr. Caleb Kudah and Ms. Zoe but to the entire Journalist fraternity in the Country and must be treated with all seriousness."

The pressure group opined that the only way the Association can redeem its image from such damaging comments was to remove Affail Monney as President of the GJA.

"We are therefore calling for the immediate removal of Mr. Affail Monney as GJA President, this is the only way the GJA can distance itself from the comments of Mr. Monney and show solidarity to their compatriots.

"We would graciously be on standby to launch a serious campaign against Mr. Monney if he fails to resign or if the GJA fails to remove him as President," the group added.