JOURNALISTS ASSAULTED IN SUNYANI (PAGE 47, DEC 14)

A REPORTER at the Sunyani Office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Denis Peprah, was last Saturday assaulted by some unidentified people during the Golden Jubilee awards ceremony in Sunyani.
The ceremony was organised by the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) to honour individual citizens from the region for their immense contributions towards the development of Brong Ahafo.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ian Motey of the Ghanaian Times; Messrs Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, the Regional Correspondent of the Daily Graphic; Michael Boateng, the Regional Correspondent of the Ghanaian Chronicle, and Larry Paa Kwesi Moses, the Regional Correspondent of TV Africa, who attempted to cool down tempers in the confusion that broke out at the end of the ceremony, were also manhandled.
In the resultant commotion, Messrs Ampratwum-Mensah and Moses lost their mobile phones and wristwatches, while Peprah and Motey lost their wallets and reporters' notebooks.
According to some female journalists and Mr Boateng, who were seated with Mr Peprah at the function, a young man whose identity could not be established allegedly carried Mr Peprah from his seat and dropped him to the ground.
He then allegedly started stepping on Peprah’s belly while some women also assaulted him.
They said in the course of an address by former President J.J. Rawlings, the Regional Cameraman of Ghana Television, Mr David Agbezuge, picked his microphone for an interview with some of the recipients of the awards.
According to an eyewitness, former President Rawlings questioned whether Mr Agbezuge was afraid of his frank statements.
The eyewitness said some women who were seated nearby added their voice to that of former President Rawlings and told the reporters to write and publish the words of the former President accurately.
According to the eyewitness, one female journalist questioned whether the women were better placed to report the event.
Suddenly, the young man came around to carry Mr Peprah and dropped him to the ground, a situation which paved the way for some angry women to pounce on him.
But for the timely intervention of the security personnel around, Mr Peprah could have been lynched.
According to the eyewitness, while a taxicab, with registration number BA 944 Q, was trying to whisk away Mr Peprah to the Sunyani Municipal Police Station, the irate mob repeatedly banged on the roof of the taxi and in the process damaged the left side glass of the cab.
The eyewitness said when Mr Peprah was being escorted to safety by the police, some colleague journalists who were seated somewhere else saw him and quickly went to find out what had happened.
He said in the event, the angry mob, who were still bent on punishing Mr Peprah, vented their spleen on the those reporters.