Ghana has the worst record in 18 years in press freedom statistics
Ghana has the worst record in 18 years in press freedom statistics
Ghana has the worst press freedom score in the last 18 years.
Ghana's score on Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) yearly press freedom index has gone down for the second year in a row. The index was released on World Press Freedom Day, which was on Wednesday.
Ghana hasn't done this badly since 2005, when it moved up to 66th place. Ghana is now in 62nd place in 2023, down from 60th place the year before. But Ghana moved up from 10th place in the 2022 report to 9th place, making it the best African country.
Namibia is the first country in Africa. South Africa, Cape Verde, Seychelles, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Ghana come next. Nigeria went up six spots from last year, from 129 to 123. Cameroon, on the other hand, fell 20 spots and is now 138th out of 180 countries.
The results show that writers are facing big problems in 40% of African countries, which is up from 33% the year before.
Voice of America talked to some Ghanaian writers about this story, and they explained the problems they face there that led to this setback.
In his statement, Abdallah Sham'un Bako, who works for the RFI radio station in Ghana, said that journalists face threats and harassment if they write about things that affect other people, especially leaders. He said that it needs to be looked at and stopped.
Maryam Bawa of the Marhaba radio station in Accra says that the situation for women writers in Ghana is very bad because they are afraid to go to some places where they need to work. She said it was sad that every time a politician or a press conference is held, they say they will respect the rights of journalists but do the exact opposite.
Abdul-Wahab Jawando of Gaskia TV said that even though there is a problem, "we will not say that we are not free at all." He said that some media have been hurt, but their cases are still being looked into, and the investigation is not yet over. Even though there is a rule that lets people get news for free, it is still hard for journalists to get the information they need.
Manasseh Azure, who is well-known in Ghana as an investigative writer, gave the government advice. "I'm asking the President, the Minister of Information, and the Ghanaian government to stop denying what journalists say, because that's a very dangerous thing to do," he said. He said that even though he told the police offices in 2017 about multiple death threats, nothing was done about them. This made him leave the country twice to save his life. He says that he knows some reporters who have had trouble during these times. Also, he asked the president to sit down and listen to what media had to say.
Ghana got the 22nd-best score in the world in 2015. In 2018, the country was ranked first in Africa and 23rd in the world.