Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, the Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), has come under heavy fire from Mensah Thompson, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), for his refusal to comply with the Ghana Journalists Association’s (GJA) directive to place members of Parliament on a blacklist for alleged attacks on journalists.
The Awutu Senya East MP, Hawa Koomson, and the Yendi MP, Farouk Mahama, were specifically named in the GJA directive as allegedly assaulting journalists.
On the other hand, NMC Chairman Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo has adopted a different position, calling the directive “dysfunctional and unproductive” to the public interest. He supports taking legal action to stop crimes against journalists that go unpunished.
Mensah Thompson voiced dissatisfaction with the Chairman’s remarks on February 12, 2024, during an interview with David Kwaku Sakyi on Breakfast Daily.
Mensah Thompson described Ayeboafo as an unsuccessful journalist who hasn’t acknowledged the attacks on his former coworkers.
He remarked, “Look at the ridiculousness of the things he is saying. You people are being beaten up, underpaid, and disrespected. You rise to the position where you can make decisions to protect your fellow members.”
“That this man, a former journalist, should be ashamed of himself, that I should sit down for somebody to come to my house, come and attack me, come and beat me to a pulp, and the following day I should give the same person a platform to come and talk.”
