Why MFWA Legal Fund matters to Ghana’s democracy

A writ of summons! An injunction! A criminal charge! These are different from censorship; they are legally allowable restrictions that leave Ghanaian journalists calculating what telling the next story might cost in recent times. Journalism then becomes a legal liability with its cost borne not only by the journalist, but by a public that may never hear the stories deservedly guaranteed by Article 21(1)(f) of the 1992 Constitution. To wit, all persons shall have the right to “information, subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society”.