Former Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has disapproved a draft bill being circulated by the government, warning that it poses a serious threat to freedom of expression in Ghana.
Addressing the media on Sunday, October 26, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said the proposed legislation seeks to make it a criminal offence for individuals to post or share messages in online chat groups that may be deemed offensive or inciteful. He described the development as a “dangerous” step that could be used to silence dissent.
“What we’re seeing appears to be a draft, and they want to consult on that draft. From what I have seen, this draft is dangerous,” he stated.
He argued that the move was consistent with earlier comments by President John Dramani Mahama, who, according to him, had indicated plans to use national security agencies to monitor and target social media users who post messages deemed unfavourable to the government.
“Though not surprising, because the President first announced that they are going to use the national security apparatus to go after people who make comments on social media that they consider, for whatever reason, whether it is under hate speech or whatever they consider unfavourable, they are going to search for your IP address and get the security apparatus to go after you. The President said it,” Oppong Nkrumah noted.
He cautioned that the Minister’s move to formalise those intentions through a bill was deeply worrying and contrary to global democratic trends.
“It’s not surprising that his Minister is following up with a draft bill with such wild provisions in there.
Over the last few decades, various countries have been moving away from criminalising speech. There are other remedies for speech that may be deemed unfavourable. It’s a very dangerous encroachment on the area of free speech. The government needs to tread cautiously,” he cautioned.
