The Minority in Parliament has raised serious concerns over what it describes as a government attempt to criminalise free speech through a proposed law targeting online communication.
Addressing journalists, former Minister of Information and Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said a draft bill currently being circulated seeks to make it a criminal offence for individuals to post or share messages in online chat groups that could be considered “offensive” or “inciteful.”
According to Hon. Oppong Nkrumah, the proposed legislation appears to follow President John Dramani Mahama’s recent directive to trace the IP addresses of individuals accused of spreading hate speech or inciting violence online, with the aim of holding them accountable.
“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,” the MP warned.
He accused the government of taking steps that could erode constitutional freedoms and roll back progress made in protecting free expression both in Ghana and globally.
“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,” he said.
Hon. Oppong Nkrumah cautioned that the move marks a dangerous encroachment on the rights of citizens to express dissenting views, especially at a time when other democracies are strengthening safeguards around digital speech.
“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,” he noted. “It’s a very dangerous encroachment on the area of free speech. The government needs to tread cautiously.”