Police confident of bucking trend of unresolved journalist killings

Nine in 10 of the more than 1,000 killings of journalists condemned by UNESCO between 2006 and 2017 remain unsolved. However, the UN agency is hopeful that the Ghana Police Service would buck the global trend and resolve the gruesome murder of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale.

The 32-year-old Hussein-Suale was reportedly murdered by two men said to be riding a motorbike who shot him three times at Madina and bolted.

Speaking at a memorial service held in honour of the late Hussein-Suale Friday, the UNESCO Representative and Head of Office, Abdul Rahman-Diallo was adamant that Hussein-Suale must not be added to the disturbing global trend.

"Most cases concerning the killing of journalists remain unpunished and less than ten per cent lead to conviction. we do not want to include Ahmed's case to the statistics," he said.

"Journalists worldwide in the exercise of their profession have become the targets of assassination by those who abhor open transparent democracies. Unesco is committed to defending the safety of journalists and fighting against impunity following crimes committed against them".

The Ghana Police Service on Thursday announced that it had arrested six suspects in the murder, interrogated them, taken their statements and released them on police enquiry bail.

In a tribute at the memorial, DCOP David Nenyi Ampah Bennin, the Director General in charge of Special Duties assured that the Police will not rest until all the perpetrators of the crime are arrested and brought to book.

"Some arrests have been made and I want to assure the general public and those of us gathered here that we shall not rest until all those who perpetrated this heinous act are exposed and brought to book".

He said the Police was still counting on the public to provide information that will lead to a speedy resolution of the case.

An opposition Member of Parliament (MP) from the Tamale North Constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini was similarly confident that the Police would resolve the murder.

However, he said the perpetrators would only be found if there was no interference in the investigations of the Police.

"I am very confident that when our Police Service wants to do a very, very, very good investigation and they are not interfered with, they do it," he said.

Boniface Sadiqque, the MP for Madina (the area where Ahmed was shot) said the murder had an international nature and was an opportunity for the Ghana Police to prove their competence to the world.

He said recent criticisms about the competence of the Police by his colleagues in Parliament were made out of anger and he was confident that the case would be cracked with assistance from the public.

"This is not a Ghana matter where you undermine somebody and then throw it overboard. The whole world is watching this and their capacity and professionalism is being put to the test. I am sure they would not want to disgrace and embarrass themselves."