Military justifies why personnel who assaulted journalists were exonerated

Military justifies why personnel who assaulted journalists were exonerated

Col. Mbawine Atintande

The Ghana Armed Forces has been justifying why it exonerated its personnel who ‘assaulted’ two photo journalists during last month’s Independence Dayparade in Accra.

The journalists were allegedly assaulted in their attempts to take photographs of President John Mahama.

Vincent Dzatse of the Ghanaian Times newspaper was allegedly slapped whilst his colleague Nii Martey Botwe of the Daily Graphic was electrocuted in his private parts.

Following the incident, the military was tasked to investigate the matter. But Public Affairs Director at the Ghana Armed Forces Col. Mbawine Atintande says their investigations revealed the journalists were not assaulted.

Speaking on Multi TV’s AM Show on Thursday Col. Atintande maintained that the mere fact that a soldier’s hand was found on one’s cheek does not mean there was a slap.

“Nobody was slapped…there was no actual slapping of anyone” he said, emphasizing that the military high command does not encourage high handiness by personnel.