Journalists who were invited to cover the inauguration of the Central Gonja Assembly were scoffed at and labelled "agents of Anas and Tiger Eye" by a judge who was at the event to swear in members of the assembly at Buipe last Tuesday.
It all began when this reporter approached the judge, who was later identified as Mr Augustine Essah of the Tamale Magistrate Court Two, to ask for his name and designation.
The judge, whose name was not known then by the journalist, retorted: "I don't know my name. You are all agents of Anas and Tiger Eye. I will not tell you anything."
This reporter later got to know the judge’s name after contacting some lawyers in Tamale on Wednesday morning, a day after the inauguration.
Humiliation
Samuel Duodu was at the event with the Northern Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Caesar Abagale, who is also the Northern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), and Mr Edmund Gyebi, the Northern Regional Correspondent of the Ghanaian Chronicle, who were all surprised by the behaviour of the judge.
Mr Abagale also approached the judge for his name and other details but he would not provide them. "You are also an agent of Tiger Eye PI. I won't tell you anything," the judge said.
Mr Essah’s attitude is believed to have stemmed from the exposé by the investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, on the alleged bribery scandal in the Judiciary.
Mr Abagale, in reaction, said the judge’s description of journalists as agents of Tiger Eye PI was unfortunate and had the tendency to set other judges against the media.
He pointed out that the journalists were at Buipe to perform an official duty, in much the same way as the judge was, and, therefore, the judge should have given them that recognition.
Swearing in
Forty-three assembly members, comprising 30 elected members and 13 government appointees, were sworn in at the event. The assembly has only five women, made up of three elected and two appointees.
Iddrisu Ibrahim, the Assembly Member for the Kidbripe Electoral Area, was elected as the Presiding Member.
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