Minority Declares Support for 'March for Free Expression' Today

THE Minority in Parliament has declared its full support for the "March for Free Expression" slated for today.

Being organized by Free Media Vanguards (FMV), a non political pressure group, the protest match is to kick against the closure of opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) affiliated radio stations -- Radio Gold and Radio XYZ -- in Accra by the National Communications Authority a fortnight ago.

Per the plans of the march, the protesters will converge on the El Wak Sports Stadium in Accra, move through 37, then to the headquarters of the National Communications Authority, Airport City, where a petition will be presented to officials of the Authority.

In a statement issued in Accra declaring their support and participation in the march, the caucus called on all Ghanaians to join the march to defeat a "sinister but determined erosion of our constitutional rights by the Akufo-Addo administration."

The statement, signed and issued by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said it was of the firm conviction that "the current fascist tendencies of the Akufo-Addo-led administration which has created a climate of fear, impunity and arbitrariness requires an unwavering and formidable resistance from all those who believe in true democracy and constitutionalism.

"The fundamental human rights of free speech and the freedom and independence of the media as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the Minority pointed out, must be safeguarded," the statement said.

It decried the 'threats' on the lives of journalists Manasseh Azure Awuni and Edward Adeti for doing stories "critical of the Akufo-Addo Government."

The statement said the unresolved assassination of Ahmed Hussein-Suale and the "increasing cases of attacks on journalists" which they claimed culminated in Ghana losing its number one spot as the freest country for the media in Africa and dropping on the World Press Freedom Index requires that "all well meaning Ghanaians rise up to demand an end to this creeping dictatorship."

The statement commend the Ghana Journalists Association, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association and the Media Foundation for West Africa for openly condemning the 'attack' on the media, the Minority called on all well meaning Ghanaians to join in the march to end the "oppression and tyranny."

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