The parliamentary candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the Builsa South Constituency, Daniel Kwame Gariba, is reported to have physically assaulted a staff member of the Builsa South District Assembly who also functions elsewhere as a journalist.
The Radio Fumbisi reporter, Saeed Jafar Mohammed, is receiving treatment at the Builsa South District Hospital, according to his colleagues at the radio station.
The parliamentary candidate, who doubles as the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Builsa South District, is also quoted to have told the journalist there would be no consequences even if he reported the alleged assault to the Inspector General of Police.
The attack, which left him bleeding from his nostrils with a severe headache, a neck pain and wounds in his lips, is said to have occurred at about 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday, 27 November 2024, on the office premises of the Builsa South District Assembly.
Although Mohammed did not suffer the alleged attack in the line of duty as a journalist, members of the public are concerned he might find it difficult to attend to his media duties as the attack has rendered him ill and confined him to a hospital bed.
The journalist told Media Without Borders on the telephone from his hospital bed on Wednesday night that Gariba punched him multiple times in the presence of five members of the assembly’s staff because he objected to a suspicious attempt by him (Gariba) to divert some hair-drying machines meant for some beauticians in the district.
Narrating how it all began, Mohammed told the author of this report that he also worked at the assembly with the Business Advisory Centre, a department under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He said the hair-drying machines in question were provided under the Business in a Box (BizBox) Project for the beauticians, who were to undergo a training programme on how to establish their own businesses before being handed the machines.
The machines, he said, were stored in the Business Advisory Centre’s office room whose keys he had always kept. He said he received a telephone call on Wednesday from Gariba, while he was taking his lunch outside the assembly’s premises, asking him to report immediately to his (Gariba’s) office. He continued, saying that when he arrived, Gariba asked him to take him to the Business Advisory Centre’s office room.
“He moved with me to the office. When we got there, he asked me to open the office. Then, he ordered some men to pack the items out. The men were about five or six, including the procurement officer and his own driver.
“I told him the first set of items had been given to the beneficiaries and that these new ones were to be given to the new people who were to be trained. His response was that he would order boys to beat me up. I asked what my crime was; he said he was not informed about the distribution of the items. Before I could explain, he started beating me, slapping, punching me,” he said.
Mohammed said he wanted to fight back in self-defence but some of the assembly’s staff who were at the scene forbade him from doing so.
“When I mentioned that I would report his assault at the police station, he told me I could report to the IGP if I so wished and boasted there was nothing they could do to him. I reported the case at the Fumbisi Police Station. I am currently at the Builsa South District Hospital.
“For now, I’m not feeling well at all, honestly. There is a pain in my chest. I have a serious headache. There are cuts in my lips. I was operated upon some years ago and I was advised not to get involved in any rigorous activity. I have not been very strong because of that operation. I have a serious chest pain from the beating,” he told Media Without Borders.
When the author of this report telephoned the parliamentary candidate for his side of the story, he answered the call but initially did not comment. He said he was at a meeting. He did not wait on the phone to hear the purpose of the call. He ended the call in a hurry. After a while, further attempts were made to reach him again by phone. This time, he did not answer the calls.
A message was, then, sent to him via WhatsApp, giving him some of the details of the alleged incident. He replied in text through the same medium, saying he did not assault the journalist.
“I never did any such. I only took hair dryer machines he stole from his custody. These are machines I handed over to beneficiaries at a function a month ago. A month after it comes [sic] to my attention that some of the beneficiaries were not given their machines.
“It turns out that he went and kept these machines under lock and key. Upon tipoff I called him to open the place for me to verify and he refused. I took the key from him and opened the place and found these machines there,” he stated.
He said he was “at campaign grounds” when this media outlet sought to engage him further on the matter, adding: “So please let me concentrate on my campaign.”
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
