Free speech: the promise and the practice

On the front page of the Daily Graphic this Friday, the Minister in Charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, says the government is committed to protecting free speech. It is a welcome sentence.

It is also one that almost every government has said at some point, including many that jailed their critics the following week.

This is not the first time the minister has said it. Speaking at the launch of the 29th GJA Media Awards, he said the government does not intend to curb freedoms and that President Mahama supports free expression.

In September, he told the Federation of African Journalists' Steering Committee in Accra that the government has no policy tolerating the harassment or intimidation of journalists. I take him at his word that this is the intention. The question is what the record shows.

Each of these assurances came with a qualifier. At the GJA launch he drew a line at what he called abuse of digital platforms, and he did not define "abuse".At the FAJ meeting he said that enforcing laws against speech that threatens public safety should not be read as suppression.

Some of that is fair, since a threat of violence is not free speech. But an undefined term is exactly where a promise starts to drift from its practice.

The drift is visible in the numbers. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has recorded 14 arrests linked to false news and offensive speech in under 16 months, nearly double the number documented during the previous administration's entire eight-year tenure.

The tools are old: Section 208 of the Criminal Offences Act on false news, and Section 76 of the Electronic Communications Act.

The cases are concrete. TikToker Camilla Alhassan was jailed for one year for offensive conduct over insulting comments about the President.She had pleaded guilty to videos alleging, without evidence, that President Mahama buried 32 cows in ritual sacrifices to win the 2024 election.

Those claims were baseless, but a year in prison is a heavy price for them. In a related case, NDC activist Prince Aboagye was arrested and charged under the same provisions over TikTok statements about former Vice-President Bawumia. That arrest suggests the problem cuts across party lines and is not simply one side's grievance.

The government has an answer. Its supporters argue these provisions have been on the books for decades and that the rise in arrests reflects an explosion of anonymous, unregulated online content.That case deserves a hearing. But the MFWA has long called for reform of Section 76 and Section 208, and for courts to apply such provisions narrowly and proportionately, in line with Ghana's constitutional protections.

Opposition MP Frank Annoh-Dompreh has also cautioned against arrests over offensive comments, raising concerns about fair and equal application of the law.

Ghana's foundations are strong. The 1992 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and of the media in Article 21(1)(a) and Chapter 12, and Parliament repealed criminal libel and seditious libel in 2001. Our press is noisy, plural and proud. But freedoms are kept by use, and they erode when citizens stop watching how laws are applied.

So how should a citizen read a ministerial assurance? As a standard to measure the government against. If the commitment is real, critics should be answered with argument rather than arrest, and provisions that can be turned against dissent should be reviewed or repealed. The minister himself has called for a review of the National Media Commission's role.The same openness to review should extend to Sections 76 and 208.

Commitment is measured in conduct, not in headlines. Free speech is not a gift from the state. It is a right the state must respect, and a promise made in public can be held to account in public.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

Mustysallama@gmail.com
+233555275880

References
News Ghana, "Mahama backs media freedom but warns against social media abuse." newsghana.com.gh/mahama-backs-media-freedom-but-warns-against-social-media-abuse/ (see also 3News, "Mahama supports free speech; govt does not intend to curb freedoms," 3news.com)

GNA, "Gov't does not support harassment, intimidation of journalists – Kwakye Ofosu," Sept. 2026. gna.org.gh/2026/09/govt-does-not-support-harassment-intimidation-of-journalists-kwakye-ofosu/

MyJoyOnline, same story. myjoyonline.com/govt-does-not-support-harassment-intimidation-of-journalists-kwakye-ofosu/

Al Jazeera, "Arrests of critics in Ghana provokes alarm over free speech under Mahama," June 6, 2026. aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/6/arrests-of-critics-in-ghana-provokes-alarm-over-free-speech-under-mahama

MFWA via AllAfrica, "TikToker Jailed for a Year Over False Claims Against President," July 2026. allafrica.com/stories/202607170275.html

MyJoyOnline, "NPP condemns one-year jail term for TikToker Camilla Alhassan." myjoyonline.com/npp-condemns-one-year-jail-term-for-tiktoker-camilla-alhassan-says-free-speech-is-not-a-crime/

MFWA via AllAfrica, "Political Party Activist Granted Bail Over Alleged False Publication," July 24, 2026. allafrica.com/stories/202607240406.html

MFWA, statement on the pastor's remand, April 2026. mfwa.org/?p=51371

GNA, "Annoh-Dompreh cautions against partisan use of law in speech cases," Sept. 20, 2026. gna.org.gh/2026/09/annoh-dompreh-cautions-against-partisan-use-of-law-in-speech-cases/

Constitution of Ghana (1992), Article 21(1)(a) and Chapter 12; Criminal Code (Repeal of Criminal and Seditious Laws) (Amendment) Act, 2001 (Act 602).

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