Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, a former Deputy Attorney General has urged the media practitioners and the youth to play active roles towards building and strengthening peaceful cities.
He said doing so would sustain and consolidate the nation’s reputation as one of the most peaceful countries in Africa and the world.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah gave the advice when speaking at the opening session of a day’s forum to mark the Bono Regional celebration of the World Press Freedom Day in Sunyani.
The Bono Regional chapter in collaboration with the Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a media advocacy NGO organised the forum on the theme: “Shaping a Future at peace-The role of the youth and the media in building peaceful cities”.
Attended by media practitioners and veteran journalists and other stakeholders including chiefs and queens, and faith-based organisations the event coincided with the launch of the 2025 regional awards of the chapter.
It also offered an opportunity for the participants to know their various health conditions as Bono Regional Directorate of Health conducted free health screening for them.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah indicated that strengthening peaceful cities went beyond absence of violence, explaining that: “peaceful cities are communities where people feel safe and respected, where differences are embraced, and conflicts are resolved through dialogue”.
He advised the youth to channel their energies into productive activities and utilize the new media to spread and promote unity, challenge stereotypes, and hold duty bearers accountable.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah challenged the media to uphold high ethical journalism devoid of spreading misinformation and hate speech, saying that responsible journalism remained prerequisite for sustainable development.
He said responsible journalism, youth empowerment, and digital literacy safeguarded national peace in Ghana’s rapidly urbanizing communities.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah expressed concern about the rise in fake news saying that false news undermined free speech and press freedom and fuel insecurity rather than promoting peace and social cohesion.
He cited the continuous breach of Section 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and Section 76 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775), saying that those provisions, though well-intended, had been “abused beyond imagination and at times to absurd and weird limits”.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah called on the GJA to frontline the advocacy for the proper application of those laws and push for the repeal of other laws that infringed on press freedom.
The Very Reverend Dr Solomon Bruce, the Superintendent Minister and Synod Secretary of the Sunyani Methodist Diocese who presided urged the media to be circumspect in their reportage in pushing forward the holistic national development.
The forum was also attended by Mr Joseph Addae Akwaboa, the Bono Regional Minister, Nana Kwaku Kumi, the Bono Regional Director of Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ) and Mr Emmanuel Kofi Agyeman, the Bono Regional Patron of the GJA.
GNA
