An Achimota Magistrate Court has handed down convictions and fines to 16 New Patriotic Party (NPP) members who invaded the premises of UTV and disrupted its primetime show.
Each individual has been ordered to pay a fine of 200 penalty units amounting to GH¢2400. The convictions were based on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and rioting, to which the individuals had pleaded guilty.
The incident occurred during the live broadcast of United Showbiz on Saturday, October 7, 2023. The invaders claimed that the show had been used as a platform for unfair and unprofessional criticism of the government.
They further alleged that a letter from the NPP to UTV management regarding the show was torn apart on-air by A Plus, a political activist and regular panelist of the show. The police arrested and subsequently prosecuted the individuals.
In response to the invasion, both the National Media Commission and the Ghana Journalists Association condemned the incident. The Ghana Journalists Association referred to the act as “barbaric and medieval” and expressed its determination not to be silenced or intimidated by such attacks.
“… it is very much consistent with the building blocks in recent times to establish a state of impunity against the media, one that is worse than the infamous ‘culture of silence’. We wish to inform such evil minds, both orchestrators and actors, that the media in Ghana have survived all forms of clampdown in the past, even under dictatorial regimes, and that we shall never be intimidated or silenced by any form of attack,” the statement from GJA.
While there had been initial attempts to deny the affiliation of the group to the NPP, the National Youth Organiser of the party, Salam Mustapha, confirmed that all the young men who invaded the media house were known members of the party.
Mr Mustapha acknowledged that he knew the individuals in the video and that some of them held positions within the NPP, such as constituency youth organizers and a Deputy Greater Accra Youth Organiser. He clarified that although they were NPP members, the party had not sanctioned their actions.
“I can’t be on this platform and claim that I don’t know them. All those in the video I know them. And I can confirm that some of them are constituency youth organisers, and one is a Deputy Regional Youth Organiser [Greater Accra]. They are the guys that I work with, and so I cannot deny their bona fide membership to the New Patriotic Party. As for that, I cannot lie on this platform. They’re NPP members that I work with, and I can state emphatically that I know them.”
