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Global Media condemns gov’t stance against Manasseh’s De-Eye expose’

• By EDMOND GYEBI
• March 13, 2019
• 21

The Executive Director of the Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), Mr. Raphael Godlove Ahenu has questioned why the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government is trying everything possible to trivialize, defend and make nonsense out of the undercover investigation by Manasseh Azure Awuni of Multimedia Group, which sought to expose the formation of another party ‘militia’ called ‘De-Eye’.

According to him, the behavior of and position taken by the Government amount to betrayal of public confidence and trust in it [government], who was supposed to investigate the matter thoroughly to enable Ghanaians to determine whether the content of Manasseh’s expose’ was credible or misleading.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with WatchGhana.Com, Mr. Ahenu slammed the government and its functionaries for contradicting themselves, misinforming and misleading the public in their attempt to defend what he described as the near ‘indefensible’ publication. 
The Joy News exposé revealed that the group led by one Choman, a former personal bodyguard of President Nana Akufo-Addo was using the Osu Castle a ‘security zone’ for the training of its members under the watch of the Akufo-Addo government and National Security.

However, the government has since come out to describe the investigative piece as one that falls short of the journalism standards and it only puts together conjuncture, malice, mischief, sensationalism and invalidated suspicions, presented to the Ghanaian people as truth.

According to the Government, ‘De-Eye’ group is a recruitment agency helping unemployed young men and women to find jobs, and also operates a website that openly states their objectives. Adding that “the Osu Castle is not a security zone, neither is it an annex of the Presidency. It is a facility operated by the Ghana Museums and the castle gardens is opened to the public.”

The ‘vigilante group’ it [government] further said was driven out of the garden grounds of the Castle in October 2018 by a joint operation involving personnel of the National Security and the Police.

The Director of Communication at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin had told a local radio station in Accra that neither the President nor the National Security knew about existence of ‘De-Eye’ group. 

“The President has no knowledge of the alleged activities of this said group, let alone sanctions their activities. My checks from National Security have revealed that no such group is operating from the Castle”. 

After the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah also had said the militia were cleared from the Osu Castle in October 2018, another contradiction emerged  when the Minister of State in-charge-of National Security, Mr Bryan Acheampong in a Facebook post confirmed that the group held its 2018 end of year party on December 21 2018 at the Castle Gardens.
 

However, the Executive Director of GLOMEF equally descended heavily on the Inspector General of Police, the National Security Minister and the head of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service for failing to arrest the leader of the ‘De-Eye’ group to uncover the motive behind the training of those ‘militias’ and why the use of the Osu Castle among others. 

Meanwhile, the undercover investigation titled “The Militia in the Heart of the Nation” had among things said the Osu Castle, was the headquarters of De-Eye Group, a pro-NPP militia. It also said the National Security and the Presidency were aware of the existence of this group.

That notwithstanding, the Global Media Foundation Boss said the explanation by the Government was insubstantial and unconvincing, and also creates doubts about the commitment of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government to disband all vigilante groups. 

“It is highly unfortunate for government to come out to attack Multimedia and Manasseh Azure Awuni, because we Ghanaians who have watched the expose’ are frightened and we expect the Government to rather commission investigations into the matter instead of taking sides. Whether the Osu Castle is a security zone or not that is not the concern of we Ghanaians. What we want to know is that who owns the De-eye group and for what purpose, and who was housing them at the Osu Castle".

Source: WatchGhana.Com