How Police Saved Metro TV Cameraman From Facing Contempt Charges – Eyewitness Account

MFWA BUILDS MEDIA CAPACITY ON FACT BASED REPORTING …Ahead of December 7 Elections

The Axim Divisional Police Command is said to have saved the life of a Metro TV cameraman who could have been thrown into jail for secretly filming a court proceeding involving the husband of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira and a communicator of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The cameraman is said to have gone to the court in the company of a reporter from The Chronicle, Alfred Adams, to cover the said court proceedings which Mr. Seth Afeku, husband to Hon. Catherine Afeku, had brought defamation suit against the NDC communicator, one Angate Borzah.
Alfred Adams, who has a long standing feud with the Afekus, is said to have shown his media ID card to the court interpreter to allow him cover the said proceedings.
He then introduced the cameraman to the Court Interpreter as a Cameraman from Metro TV without showing his ID card.
The Court Interpreter, we understand, did not for the media ID card of the cameraman since that of Alfred Adams was enough for him to allow them entry.
However, they were told not to film court proceedings since it was against the law. The Court Interpreter, we further understand, is said to have even told the two media professionals to hold on until he seeks permission from the District Magistrate Court before they could cover the proceedings.
The Chronicle reporter, we are told, was later allowed entry into the court room, whilst the cameraman was made to wait outside.
While in the corridors of the court building, the cameraman then started to secretly film the proceedings since one could easily have access to what was happening inside from a distance.
Unknown to him, the bodyguard of the MP was in plain cloth outside the courtroom watching every move he takes.
Eyewitnesses say, the cameraman placed the camera under his armpit and pretended he was doing nothing. Meanwhile, he was secreting filming the court proceedings.
Having monitored his movements for some time, the bodyguard of the MP approached him and asked him why he was secretly recording the court proceedings.
The cameraman then denied but the Policeman stood his grounds and then drew the attention of another policeman detailed at the court to what was happening.
That policeman then called the Divisional Police Commander and informed him of what was happening there.
In a twinkle of an eye, the District Police Commander stormed the court premises and demanded to inspect what had been captured on tape by the cameraman.
According to eyewitnesses, the said Metro TV cameraman had on tape some recordings from the court proceedings that was ongoing.
The Divisional Police Commander, according our sources, instructed one of his boys to collect the camera for him.
After the proceedings, the Police then reached a gentleman’s agreement with the cameraman to delete whatever he had captured from the court proceedings and leave the premises peaceful, a deal the cameraman obliged.
This decision, we are told, was arrived at because of the good relationship that exist between the media and the police.
Having reached that agreement, the Police together with the cameraman and in the company of the NDC Regional Chairman, Nana Poku, proceeded to the Police Station where the items the cameraman captured were deleted.
“The Police Commander told him that he didn’t want to cause his arrest to create chaos and besides, it was an election year and wanted to maintain the peaceful atmosphere the district was enjoying”, one of the eyewitnesses who did not want his name to be made public recounted.
Sources within the Police have confirmed the incident but are rather surprised that an incident they handled peacefully has turned to be a confrontational issue in which the Western Regional Branch of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) whose Secretary, Zambaga Rufai Saminu, was a working colleague of Alfred Adam at The Chronicle newspaper, to issue a statement contradicting what transpired at the Axim Magistrate Court on Friday, July 10, 2020.
Per the dictates of the guidelines in the GJA Code of Ethics, a journalist should make adequate enquiries and cross-checks his/her facts before going ahead with any publication. It also urges journalists make and verify the source of every information and as well not to suppress news, information and materials on the basis of threats, inducements, and individual preferences or for personal gain.
Checks at the various police stations under the Axim Divisional Police Command and those near the District as well as the Regional Police Headquarters have revealed that the cameraman not made any case of assault against the MP’s bodyguard.
We are also informed by eyewitnesses that the MP’s bodyguard did not heckle the cameraman contrary to claims by the Secretary of the Western Regional GJA whose friend is Alfred Adams.
Efforts to reach the Axim Divisional Police Commander to comment on the issue has proved futile as his mobile phone was either switched off or out of coverage area.
However, the Court Interpreter, Mr. Bright Kumah, when contacted confirmed the incident but denied ever seeing the MP’s bodyguard heckling the Metro TV cameraman.
“I was inside the court room when I heard noise from the corridors of the court room and I immediately went out to find out what was happening. When I got there, I saw the MP’s bodyguard questioning the cameraman about the secret recording he saw him doing. The incident happened on the corridors of the court room where one could easily see and hear what is happening in the courtroom. Having succeeded in moving them away from the corridors of the courtroom, I then moved inside to observe the proceedings”, he explained.
The MP for the area, Hon. Catherine Afeku when contacted, also said she “has just been briefed about the incident and is doing further checks before she will comment on it since she was inside the court room observing proceedings”.

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