Soldiers Seize GJA Boss’ Camera

Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), in the Ashanti Region, Kingsley Hope, has suffered humiliation from soldiers while he was in the line of official duty.

Hope, who is also the Ashanti Regional Editor of Ghanaian Times newspaper, said he had his camera seized by rampaging soldiers after he had taken a picture of how the restricted movement is being implemented.

The security agents, tasked to ensure that residents complied with the partial lockdown directive in Kumasi, had erected a barricade on a road at Adum.

Hope, as a journalist is among those exempted from the lockdown, and was performing his duty as he used his camera to snap a picture of an incident he said he felt was a public interest matter worthy of news coverage.

The soldiers, who were at the scene, thought the Ashanti Regional GJA Boss had taken a picture of them so they became nervous and confronted the journalist.

The picture snapping incident, which occurred at the Prempeh II Street on Friday, April 17, 2020, clearly did not go down well with about two soldiers.

The two soldiers, reportedly, ordered Hope to quickly surrender his camera for scrutiny, an order which the journalist obliged without complaint.

Hope, who was clearly traumatized, was said to have appealed to the two military men to release his camera back to him as he was doing his legal duties.

The two soldiers, reportedly, did not pay attention to Hope as they left the scene with his personal camera, thereby deepening the frustration of the journalist.

As at the time of filing this report, Hope had contacted some top military officers in Kumasi to help him get his camera back but it had still not been released to him.