“I have to quit my job to save my life” - Ramadan

Thursday, October 12, 2006 – Tamale, Ghana

Today I arrived at the office at 7:30am. My day started earlier than usual as Layata, the Radio Justice secretary, informed me that she would be reading something on-air during the morning news. Being that Soldier (the station driver) comes to pick my neighbour and I up in the morning her early morning appointment also became mine.

It was nice to be at the office early (though it was only an hour earlier than usual). I took some time to put a few things in order, write my monthly report and prepare for a story that Ramadan and I would be going out on at 9am. The story is relevant, but not an intense human rights topic: We were looking at the free nighttime calls from 12:30am to 5:00am on the Areeba cell phone network. The advertisements promote the service in a way that encourages people to set their alarms for 12:30am and join the ‘all night talking on the phone for free party’. We were looking at two angles to this: who uses the service most frequently (noting that students, youth, and those who can not afford to make calls during the times that charge per second) and the health effects of disrupted sleep.

After losing track of time in my work, Ramadan strolled into my office just after 10am. Soon afterwards, we were on our way to conduct a series of interviews to collect the voices and opinions on the issue. We began with Areeba staff at the main office in Tamale, and continued with a wide cross-section of people within the community.

When we were satisfied with what we had collected, Ramadan went to the internet café to collect some news pieces, while I went with Soldier to my house to pick up the research that I had done on the effects of disrupted sleep.

Having made a few attempts since coming to Tamale to call the local Human Rights Commission with no luck, I decided to use this chance to see if I could find anyone there. The way to the HRC office is near the middle of town, and down a winding road that passes quite a few offices and is in the next building after the all girls secondary school (which I found out is the only of its kind in the region).

After a few brief inquiries, I was happy to find a man working as a paralegal named Alhaspam Sridu. We spoke about the work that we each do and decided that we would meet again next week. As I went to meet Solider in the car and we returned back up the winding road that we had come down, he informed me that there was another reporter from Justice that we would pick up before we got Ramadan. We pulled up to a building which looked like a school, especially due to the school age girls hanging around on the front steps. Though Soldier said he would go inside and get him, I decided to also head inside. I was told that the event was not finished yet because the Regional Minister was about to speak. I was walked into the place, which was full from end to end, with the exception of two seats in the centre of the room that we sat down in. I then tuned into the speech of the minister.

If I had not been informed that the event was for the announcement of some scholarships for female students, I would have had no clue why the back half of the very large room was full of young girls.

Based on the speech being given, I would have thought that it was a press conference for the minister to announce his stance with the media and to get some other issues off of his chest.

He told the crowd that “there is one particular media house in town that I have a lawsuit against”. Standing at the front of the room with a large police officer standing intimately close to his back, they both stood there scanning the crowd. The officer was scanning for any movement in the direction of the minister, while the minister was scanning the crowd to see their reaction to his words.

He bragged of the lawyers that he had building a case against that “media house in town” that is “maligning his character”. He boasted that he would take the station for everything that it is worth, and then, to the gleeful applause of the young girls who loved the idea of more money coming their way, he claimed that he would donate all of the proceeds of the lawsuit to the female secondary school (I found that puzzling, as a man in public office I figured any such lawsuit would go to the state).

Referring to a news piece that was widely covered a few days ago on an announcement by the Ghanian Journalist Association that were seeking to rid the industry of unaccredited imposter journalists, the minister threatened that he would have “untrained journalists that did not go to school dragged out of press conferences”. He directly linked this measure to media house that he claimed to be building a lawsuit against, indicating that this measure would affect them. His last comment on the media was the suggestion that there be a meeting of “all media men in the region” so that they would know each other by face and could be recognized.

Apparently, the last four press conferences / public presentations that he has spoken at have been dominated by this issue.

As he continued to speak, he moved into the issue of the Dagbon people. He made the remark that “Dagbon is so small, but when they cause trouble, we all feel it”. He warned that he would not tolerate any disturbance and repeatedly used the word “ruthless” to describe how he would handle all involved. The comment that, if he could not find those responsible for “any disturbances”, that he would take their chief, was followed up with the quote “and you will wonder why you have no chief”. At that point he wanted to make it clear that he has “full authority and full support from the government” to do such, at which he reminded the audience, once again, that he would be “ruthless”. I found it to be alarming that his smile and the glint in his eyes did not change throughout his talk; it was the same when he promised to give the proceeds from the lawsuit to the girls as it was when he threatened a ruthless attitude against any that “cause disturbances”.


Having attended an emergency meeting at Justice a few weeks ago, I was aware of the details going on behind the scenes, and that the unnamed media house that he referred to was Radio Justice. In the conference hall, which also doubles as my office, the entire staff at Justice were called to a meeting where we were all addressed by the Chief Executive of the station. The issue was a lawsuit that the Regional Minister was threatening the station with, and the pressure that he has been putting on the Chief Executive. The suggestion by the minister is that false statements have been made about him on the station, primarily, his role (or lack thereof) in the rest cheiftancy issue that sent the region into a dangerous armed conflict. He and his representatives have not presented any evidence of their accusations and have refused to sit down for a meeting and have refused to review the tapes in our station’s records that contain the shows in question.

Even with no evidence or substance to these accusations, the pressure that the minister is applying must have been substantial to warrant such a response. The Chief Executive asserted that there must be a cease to all discussion of the issue and regarding the minister, unless they are referring to an official press release / press conference they would have to:

Control the comments from the public call-in shows to restrict them from speaking about the issues.
All presenter and reporters refrain from comment.

The quote of the day from the Chief Executive was, “I don’t do politics, politics don’t make me money”.

While sitting in on the speech of the Regional Minister, my mind went back to that day at the meeting. While I was aware of the threat of a lawsuit against Justice (which they do not fear, as they would love the courts to find the Regional Minister out of line), it seemed that many in attendance also knew the media house that he was referring to.

I, personally, found the comments to be brazen, and my thoughts were still on the speech when we picked up Ramadan from the internet café. As we drove back to the station, we filled Ramadan in on the details knowing that he has a particular interest in this information. This particular interest is that the Regional Minister is actually Ramadan’s uncle, and the primary focus of this attack was actually Ramadan.

In addition to this, Ramadan has been receiving subtle threats and even got a phone call from a young man that claimed to be a part of the minister’s camp who told Ramadan that he and his girlfriend should be careful. A recent case of a man who, at the request of the government was picked up by police, turned over to the military and found naked, beaten and dead at the doors of the mortuary was also on his mind. The sentiment is that if the King in the region and forty of his men can be killed with no arrests, than what of everyone else?

With all of this on his mind, I went to see Ramadan in his office where he told me that, “I have to quit my job to save my life”. Having to finish editing the afternoon news, he requested to come and talk when he was finished in my office.

When he came in, he began to tell me how he was afraid for his life and for the well-being of his mother who is ill.

“He knows me and I know him”, he said of his uncle.

Turning reflective, he began to go back to days as a young boy. The story – the first time that he ever shared it with someone – continued of how he went from the Upper East, through the Sahara to Algeria, where he faced thirst, hunger and prison. He then eventually made it to Libya and traveled through Northern Africa, until finally making it back to Ghana. It was in Northern Africa where he was introduced to journalism, but back in Ghana where he studied to join the profession. The main reason that he had left Ghana in the first place was because he could not afford his school fees, and his uncle (who was in the government at that time, and had been assisted in his own schooling by Ramadan’s father) declined to assist, and failed to even follow-through with the payment of school fees for Ramadan’s two older siblings.

The pain and bitterness in the story was clear and apparent.

One point that must be added is that of all of the criticism of the minister (which really is only the presentation of evidence and facts that are not favourable to his interests and open discussion on the subject) was not put out by Ramadan. There seems to be this assumption that Ramadan should, by all means, defend the interest of his uncle over the reality of any situation of the responsibility of his position as a reporter and a journalist. While Ramadan is committed to tell the story based on facts, regardless of who it implicates, he has very little to do with comments in question.

After divulging all of this and more to me – with all of the emotions attached to the situation – I sit here wondering a lot. I have been in Ghana for a few months, but I do not know the true modus operendum in the nation. It is hard for me to advise him. I want to encourage him to hang in there, and keep fighting. Then I get other comments where staff have made sure people in town do not know that they are from Justice. And then I think of me, sitting with a known Justice reporter – the lone Silminga in the building – and realize that they might also associate me to this issue now. I listen to Ramadan’s concerns and wonder if the threat is really something to be concerned about, or if this is just posturing and flexing muscles for the minister to get his way.

Adding fuel to the engine of contemplation, I met the morning after all of this to reports of threats against four journalists who have been critical of the Ashanti chief who, with reasonable evidence, has been implicated in the country’s recent cocaine scandal. They are being targeted because, as the Ashanti Youth (which is not an organization, but actually a large group of Ashanti youth) asserts, they should not be characterizing a man who holds such an office in that way…even if he is the only person of the many officials named on a surveillance tape that was not called to testify. The journalists were just asking the question why, but now the threat has been put out that any journalist to mention the name of the Ashanti king in a defaming manner is putting themselves at risk…as for why he wasn’t called to testify, he is the presidents King...