Former Health Minister Dr Bernard Okoe Boye has cautioned the government against passing the Cybersecurity Amendment Bill in a manner that undermines democratic freedoms, urging authorities to resist laws that can be abused to suppress dissent.
He stressed that thriving nations are those that encourage open expression and diverse ideas.
“In the book Why Nations Fail, it tells you that it is communities or societies that are open to ideas that are able to grow economically,” he said on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana monitored by MyNewsGh.
“Those that stifle people’s ideas, thoughts and comments end up becoming stale or dying.”
Dr Okoe Boye argued that democracy demands tolerance for criticism, even when it is uncomfortable.
“Democracy is a system that is willing to tolerate the comments of a fool, no matter how reckless or stupid,” he explained.
“But when recklessness disorganises society or injures someone’s reputation, the remedy is civil court, not handcuffs.”
He warned that granting power to arrest over speech risks abuse. “Immediately the law is such that they can arrest you first, detain you before charging you, by the time you appear in court the damage is done,” he argued.
“Anything that can be abused should be stopped early.” According to him, governments must avoid creating systems that future leaders could exploit harshly.
“If it takes 30 years, you leave government. Always be interested in making sure anything that can be abused is stopped as early as possible,” he stated. “Let’s be careful.”
