Accra-based Citi FM and Citi TV has petitioned the National Media Commission (NMC) to investigate the arrest and assault of its journalist, Caleb Kudah.
The company asked the Commission to investigate the subsequent invasion of its premises by operatives of National Security.
A letter signed by Samuel Attah-Mensah, Managing Director of CITI FM/TV, to the NMC, on May 14, said Mr Kudah was arrested at the National Security Ministry premesises on May 11, for filming abandoned MASLOC vehicles parked at the premises of the ministry.
Mr Kudah was at the Ministry to verify a claim by an official of MASLOC that all the cars had been given out, after he had complained about wastage of public funds on social media.
However, on his way out of the premises of the ministry, he was accosted by officials of the National Security Ministry, who raised the alarm and accused him of filming national security installations, to foment trouble.
According to the petition, Mr Kudah was immediately surrounded by policemen who seized his phone and roughed him up before sending him into a building in which he met the head of the SWAT Unit DSP Azugu.
It said during questioning, he identified himself to the officials as a journalist from Citi FM/Citi TV, who had come to take photos of abandoned MASLOC vehicles, which was a follow up on a story he had earlier done.
The petition indicated that Mr Kudah was slapped several times and punched indiscriminately by theofficers several times while being questioned by DSP Azugu although he had identified himself as a journalist from Citi FM/Citi TV.
It said one Lt Col Agyeman also gave him a hefty slap and asked him to kneel down, kicked him in the groin and left him lying down.
These actions, according to the company continued for several hours until Mr Kudah was released at 7:00pm.
The company noted that while Mr Kudah was in detention, the operatives illegally seized his phone and proceeded under subterfuge to chat with his colleague, Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo, to lure her out of the office to be arrested.
The petition said minutes later, about seven or eight fully armed SWAT police officers from the National Security Ministry, led by a plain clothes officer stormed Citi FM/Citi TV in a Rambo-style in 3 pick-up vehicles, to arrest her.
“A chaotic scene ensued amid the cocking of guns and shouts, which was not only unprofessional, but intimidating and dangerous to both Mrs Abu-Baidoo Addo and the members of staff, who had come out in response to the ensuing commotion,” according to the petition.
It said the approach adopted by the SWAT team in its bid to arrest Mrs Abu-Baidoo Addo, within the precincts of her own office premises was potentially life-threatening to her and the members of staff present at the scene”.
It, therefore, asked the NMC to investigate the matter and recommend appropriate actions thereafter.
BY TIMES REPORTER
