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A PRO-PRESS freedom group, the Media Center for Social Justice (MCJ) has praised Ghanaian journalists for their growing interest in the fight against corruption in the country.

“As an anti-corruption, civil society and advocacy organisation, MCJ Ghana wishes to applaud the work of the media in general and some entities such as the Multimedia Group and Citi FM as well as their individual journalists such as Manasseh Azuri Awuni and Bernard Avle who have taken on the herculean task of probing possible causes of leakages of the public purse as well as factors militating against the socio-economic growth and development of the ordinary Ghanaian,” MCJ said in a statement signed by its President, James Kofi Annan.

MCJ’s statement came on the backdrop of a release issued by the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Affail Monney which subtly gagged journalists from venturing deep into corruption issues.

The statement issued by the Group said “it is the view of the Media Center for Social Justice, that such individuals and entities within the media space, by their actions, are only affirming the role of citizens of Ghana as enshrined in Article 41 (f) of the 1992 Constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy, that “ it shall be the duty of every citizen to protect and preserve public property and expose and combat misuse and waste of public funds and property” as well as the preamble to the Constitution of the Ghana Journalists Association in which the association affirmed its resolve to, among other things, “strive for public accountability and serve as the watchdog of the people’s rights and liberties against all forms of infringements or abuse of rights”.

It said “MCJ Ghana deems as unwarranted and uncalled for, cautions on Journalists, laced with innuendos, insults, threats and mischievous inferences, seeking to unjustly undermine the work of Manasseh Azuri Awuni and therefore condemns such subtle attempts to gag professionalism, when indeed what such persons require are commendations and moral support.”

“The Media Center for Social Justice hereby challenges government to make good its promises to fight corruption by swiftly but dutifully investigating the said allegations and punishing offenders through prosecution in the law courts to deter will-be perpetrators. This, we believe is the surest way to make corruption unattractive to its beneficiaries while at the same time bringing reward to journalists and media outlets who have dedicated their time and resolve towards the fight against corruption, corrupt persons and corrupt practices.”

“We are by this statement, also calling on government to urgently take steps to review both the Public Procurement Act (Act 663) and the policy and legal framework guiding Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Ghana which has produced a number of suspicious deals between some private sector people and some government agencies resulting in the loss of millions of tax payer’s monies,” it said