Dennis Miracles Aboagye, the aspiring Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party, has challenged the legal grounds the Ghana Police Service uses to arrest people for insults. His comments follow President John Mahama’s remarks on the arrests of social media users who insult individuals in authority.
President Mahama spoke on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25. He acknowledged the challenges of regulating new media platforms like TikTok, where users can post content freely, often without accountability. He said Ghanaians have taken insults on social media to “a new level,” with some hiding behind anonymous accounts to post “the vilest things.”
“I don’t mind being insulted. I’ve been insulted, vilified, voted out of office. For me, this skin is a crocodile skin,” Mahama said. But he questioned how Ghana should handle this new reality. He proposed bringing together stakeholders like the Ghana Journalists Association and Media Foundation for West Africa to discuss how to regulate new media and maintain “information integrity.” The President added that the government could choose to allow insults freely without arrests but asked if that was what the country wanted.
Miracles Aboagye responded on a Facebook page, accusing the President of revealing that the police are arresting, detaining, and remanding people for insults without clear legal backing. “He can stop it but he doesn’t think he should, because he doesn’t believe insults are what we want as a country,” Aboagye wrote. He questioned under which law these arrests are happening.
“We don’t want insults as a country but we don’t have the laws to allow the police to arrest anyone for it. So why exactly are the police arresting citizens for something that isn’t unlawful?” he asked. Aboagye pointed out that the President has not committed to passing laws to regulate insults, even if he believes they are undesirable.
Without specific laws criminalising insults, Aboagye said the police have too much discretion. This, he argued, leads to selective arrests where officers target people they dislike rather than cases where laws are clearly broken. “Really, which specific law is that? We are in dangerous times,” he added.
President Mahama’s remarks show awareness of the issue but stop short of endorsing a clear legal framework. His suggestion to bring stakeholders together indicates a desire for a collective decision but leaves the current arrests in a grey area.
This debate highlights the tensions between freedom of expression and social media regulation in Ghana. While insults and misinformation spread easily online, the absence of clear laws raises concerns about abuse of power and arbitrary arrests.
Miracles Aboagye’s challenge puts pressure on the government to clarify the legal basis for arresting social media users and to consider legislative action. Until then, the arrests continue amid uncertainty over their legality and fairness.
According to 3News.
