Ghana’s democracy is under attack — and the alleged culprit is not a foreign agent or shadowy criminal syndicate, but a senior official of our own National Security apparatus.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has dropped a bombshell: Richard Jakpa, Director of Special Operations at National Security, is accused of ordering journalists from The Fourth Estate to abort an interview with the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service. Their “crime”? Investigating an issue that could embarrass a public official.
This is not a misunderstanding. It is a direct assault on press freedom, a brazen attempt to snuff out the light of accountability before it can shine. It is the kind of behavior one expects from authoritarian regimes, not a democracy that prides itself on being a beacon of freedom in West Africa.
The President, John Dramani Mahama, must act decisively. Every hour of silence from the highest office in the land risks normalizing this abuse of power. Ghanaians fought too hard for the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution to watch them be trampled by overzealous operatives hiding behind the veil of “national security.”
The message must be loud and clear: National Security is not a censorship bureau. Journalists are not enemies of the state. And anyone who attempts to gag the press should face the full force of the law — no exceptions, no excuses.
Democracy dies in darkness.
