Ghana: two years after the murder of journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale, the investigation is stalling
View of Accra, capital of Ghana.
Creative Commons / Guido Sohne
Text by: Marine Jeannin Follow
6 min
On January 16, 2019, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, a Ghanaian investigative journalist working with Anas Aremeyaw Anas and the BBC was shot dead near his family home.
Two years later, the investigation is still at a standstill.
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With our correspondent in Accra,
Marine Jeannin
It's almost midnight in Madina, a northern suburb of Accra.
Ahmed Hussein-Suale is about to return home after a family dinner.
The 31-year-old gets behind the wheel of his BMW and drives a few hundred meters.
As he slows down at an intersection, two men shoot through the window, hitting him in the neck.
The journalist loses control of his vehicle and crashes into the facade of a store.
According to eyewitnesses quoted by the BBC, one of the shooters approached the driver's side, fired two more shots in the chest of Ahmed Hussein-Suale, then calmly turned and smiled at them, a finger to his lips.
It was two years ago, to the day, but little is known about it today.
"
President Nana Akufo-Addo has repeatedly promised that" the killers would be found and forced to face justice
.
"
Unfortunately, this did not happen.
Two years ago, the Investigative Police Department (CID) said it had arrested six people in connection with the case.
A year later, around the anniversary of Suale's death, the CID said it had made progress in its investigation.
But since then, nothing
"
,
emphasizes Affail Monney, president of the Journalists Association of Ghana (GJA).
It must be said that the suspects are not lacking because indeed, during his dazzling career, Ahmed Hussein-Suale had made many enemies.
A brilliant investigator, the 30-something worked with the BBC and belonged to Tiger Eye, a team of investigative journalists led by famous Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and investigating corruption cases in Ghana.
Three landmark surveys
After studying political science, Ahmed Hussein-Suale published his first major journalistic investigation in 2013 into the murders of children accused of possession, mostly disabled, in northern Ghana.
Two years later, Tiger Eye broadcasts “
Ghana in the Eyes of God
”, a documentary that shakes the Ghanaian judiciary by revealing a system of widespread corruption.
Seven of the twelve judges of the country's high courts, reports the BBC, are dismissed as a result of this documentary.
Ahmed Hussein-Suale then investigated organ trafficking in Malawi for the BBC, then embezzlement in the football world.
This latest documentary, “
Number 12
”, released in June 2018, reveals the corruption of dozens of African football officials by offering them false bribes.
Tiger Eye thus causes the downfall of some fifty referees from the continent and Kwesi Nyantakyi himself, the president of the Ghana Football Federation and member of the Fifa executive committee.
Trapped by Ahmed Hussein-Suale himself, he was dismissed and banished for life from all his positions.
From then on, the pressure increased on Tiger Eye.
Kennedy Agyapong, a presidential party deputy, unveils the photograph and name of Ahmed Hussein-Suale on television and says: “
He lives in Madina.
Find him, beat him.
I will pay
”.
The journalist files a complaint against Agyapong, but he will not have time to take the case to the courts.
Auditioned by the police after his murder, Kennedy Agyapong declared “
not to regret anything
”.
Ghana in 30th place in RSF press freedom ranking
"
This tragedy has no precedent in the history of our country,
"
insists Affail Monney before adding that "
it is a snag in Ghanaian democracy that can never be repaired
".
According to the president of the GJA, this precedent paved the way for further violence against journalists in a country which had until then been almost free.
Ranked 23rd out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders ranking of press freedom in 2018, Ghana has since fallen to 30th place (four places more than France).
Other violations of journalists' rights have been documented by RSF since the assassination of Ahmed Hussein-Suale.
In March 2019, journalist Mali Sullemana was arrested and beaten by police.
In the same year, the editor-in-chief of pureplayer Modern Ghana, Emmanuel Ajarfor Abugri, and his reporter Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum were arrested by the police and allegedly suffered torture in detention.
In August 2020, a soldier beat journalists Stanley Nii Blewu and Joseph Armstrong Gold-Alorgbey during a report and confiscated their shooting equipment.
"
The murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale represents an unprecedented level of impunity
",
accuses Affail Monney before adding that "
it will not stop as long as his murderers are still at large.
Today, media professionals face relentless threats and attacks encouraged by this impunity.
The GJA calls on the government and the security services to step up their investigations into Suale's death and to punish her killers to the maximum extent permitted by law.
The current situation has a chilling effect on press freedom, it tarnishes the light of Ghanaian democracy.
The time has come to put an end to it,
”warns Affail Monney, president of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
Read also: Ghana: an investigative journalist murdered in Accra
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