The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has interdicted two of its staff to allow for investigation into their alleged assault on some journalists at its Ablekuma office in Accra.
Three journalists from Accra based Adom FM were reportedly assaulted by officials of the Ablekuma office of the NHIS for attempting to investigate complaints from subscribers about delays.
Meanwhile, the Kaneshie Police has begun investigations into the incident.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Sylvester Mensah has welcomed the ongoing police investigation into the matter.
He also expressed the hope that the police would be swift and decisive in dealing with the culprits.
The NHIA has also launched an internal enquiry into the matter and they are expected to submit a report in 10 days.
[contextly_sidebar id=”7Xuh8LngRlZzVDTSMew287hnN0C8GC2P”]A formal announcement will be subsequently made at the end of the enquiry.
In a related development, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has charged the Police to deal with the culprits.
Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of the GJA, David Agbenu described the attack as unacceptable, saying “we are disturbed by the fact that these things are happening. In the spate of a week or two, there have been three attacks on journalists. This is unacceptable. It is condemnable and there is no basis for attacking a fellow human being for doing his or her work.”
The Media Foundation of West Africa earlier charged government to take immediate steps to prevent Ghana from losing its status as a nation that upholds freedom of speech and a free press.
The Foundation says the country is rapidly slipping from being a “glorious free press country.”
This call follows an assault on a Daily Graphic journalist by the brother of the Black Stars’ captain, Asamoah Gyan.
A driver with the multimedia group was also arrested on the orders of the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitans Assembly (AMA) after a failed attempt to arrest the journalists the driver was with.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana