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Liberia: Ghanaian Embassy On Journalist Jarkloh Arrest
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The Inquirer (Monrovia)
22 May 2008
Posted to the web 22 May 2008
Patrick K. Wrokpoh
The Ghanaian Embassy near Monrovia has for the first time spoken on the arrest and subsequent detention of its Public Relations Officer, Bill Jarkloh, who has been accused of rape.
The Ambassador of Ghana, Francis Adu- Amanfoh said the Embassy in not intervening in the matter and is allowing the laws of Liberia to take its course.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday when he was asked about the issue in Grand Cape Mount County, where he had traveled with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to participate in a three- day cabinet retreat, the Ghanaian Ambassador said it is the understanding of the Embassy that criminal investigation is being carried out in the matter and results of his understanding over the matter suggest that the allegation against the Embassy's Public Relations Officer is untrue.
"If the allegation is not true, I am expecting that the laws of the land should take its course," he said.
He added that if the allegation is not true, the accused journalist should be given his right.
Asked whether in the wake of the latest accusation he can guarantee the accused job with the Embassy, Ambassador Amanfoh said: "As long as no court of law has found him guilty of any offense, he has a job. I do not have any problem with that at all."
Late last month, reports surfaced in Monrovia that journalist Bill Jarkloh, a one- time winner of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) Feature Writer Award, was accused of raping and sodomizing an eight-year old girl on Perry Street, where he also resides. The journalist has since denied the claim.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Amanfoh has admonished Ghanaians living in Liberia to regularize at all times their immigration status by registering with the Liberian immigration authority.
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He said things have changed over the years and it is now a matter of must that people from elsewhere who want to live in another country to respect and follow the immigration laws, something which he noted his Embassy has embarked upon a campaign to Ghanaians wanting to stay in Liberia.
The arrest and detention of journalist Bill Jarkloh seems to be a classic example of the miscarriage of justice and the rule of law in post-war Liberia, since the girl had already testified in court that she had been raped by someone other than the journalist. I think the decision by the Chief Justice to arrest and detain him is intended solely as a scarecrow to frighten other journalists and to muffle the press as a whole. Bill is one of the most progressive and out-spoken journalist in contemporary Liberia.
Hi, oh! what a sad situation that I read of the allege involvevement of a friend and brother of the fourth estate in a rape saga. According to the Liberian law no one is condemned until, proven guilty, and if there is to be any legal proceedings against Bill, then let it happen with such being done in a court of competent jurisdiction. The fact of the matter should take it course at the temple of Justice and not in a place of injustice. Let all parties to the situation be heard and treated fairly... [Read Full Text]
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