President John Dramani Mahama has stated that he is frequently unaware of the recent detentions involving TikTokers and online commentators until reports surface in the news.
Addressing a public engagement, the President expressed concern over the circumstances surrounding several of these detentions, particularly those triggered by personal attacks against him.
“A lot of these arrests, I don’t even know about them. I also hear them in the media,” President Mahama noted.
“Really I don’t mind the insults, but all of us have to decide what do we want to do with TikTok,” he said. “I can tell the IGP, we can go to cabinet and say, let anybody insult anybody, let’s leave it a free for all, don’t arrest anybody for anything they say. We can do that, but is that what we want?”
Highlighting the need for a unified national stance on free speech, digital media, and law enforcement interventions, President Mahama revealed that he has directed the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) alongside the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to convene a multi-stakeholder dialogue.
“Bring all the stakeholders together and hold a workshop or a forum and let’s all collectively take a decision on what we want to do with the new media. Should the police get involved or they shouldn’t get involved? How do we regulate it?” he stated.
He indicated that any recommendations emerging from the consultations will be submitted to Cabinet to establish formal guidelines on handling digital speech offences.
While acknowledging the importance of safeguarding free speech, the President stressed that civic expression must come with boundaries, pointing out that making direct threats against a US President online would draw immediate law enforcement action.
“In Ghana you can say it and when you arrest somebody they say you are trampling on free expression,” he remarked, warning that security agencies can sometimes overreach because “once you start arresting, you don’t know where to stop.”
President Mahama added that several cases causing public outrage are equally troubling to him, especially when individuals are detained merely for directing insults at his person.
“Definitely a lot of these arrests I don’t even know about them. I also hear them on the media, somebody has been tracked and arrested and all that and sometimes it’s worrying to me because sometimes the reason for which the person has been arrested, they say he’s insulted me,” he concluded.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
