Ashanti Regional Police Command Has Sidelined Us – GJA Local Chapter
The Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) says the recent communication strategy adopted by the police service has the potential to affect police-media relations in the region.
The Association says it cannot fathom why the regional Police Command appears to be avoiding media interviews in recent times when the Police Command in the region is expected to provide clarification on urgent issues of public interest.
It said the command instead refers the media to the police headquarters in Accra.
Journalists in the Region lamented how they have to call the Police headquarters in Accra for information or clarifications on news items that have happened in the Region.
The Chairman of the GJA in the Ashanti Region, Kingsley Hope, said the situation where media houses cannot access information from the Regional Command, but rely on the service in Accra to respond to issues, which in many instances is not forthcoming, is of great worry.
“The regional command in the past verified issues in the region when the media called, but recently when the media calls the command for news received in the region to be clarified, they refer us to the headquarters in Accra which does not yield results in some cases, therefore, the Police Service should review this procedure to facilitate our news dissemination,” he said.
The position of the Ghana Journalists Association in the Ashanti Region is that the police service has created a weary relationship between the two institutions by introducing a centralized system of communication.
“Therefore if the situation is not addressed, speculations and twisting of fact would be the order of the day tarnishing the image of the media and the Police service.”
Credit: Citi News
