Once upon a time, in the Republic of Uncommon Sense, the police went looking for the person who cooked Ghana Jollof.

Not the rice.

Please.

For years, Ghanaians and Nigerians have fought over jollof with the seriousness of countries negotiating disputed territory.

Now Ghana has introduced a completely new competition:

Who actually cooked it?

This particular Ghana Jollof lives on TikTok.

No rice. No onions. No tomatoes. Just politics, insults, accusations and enough pepper to cause discomfort at very high tables.

The cook remained anonymous.

Then the State entered the restaurant.

Senior Nursing Officer Salomey Awity Baffoe was arrested over alleged links to the Ghana Jollof account and subsequently remanded for two weeks while investigations continued. Police later declared another woman, Barbara Asantewaa Kodua, wanted for alleged incitement to violence and associated her with Ghana Jollof.

At this point even the restaurant menu required legal advice.

Was Salomey the cook?

Was Barbara the chef?

Was one supplying tomatoes?

Was somebody only carrying takeaway?

Or has Ghanaian politics reached the stage where merely walking past the restaurant while jollof is cooking requires you to travel with a lawyer?

These questions would merely be hilarious if they were not sitting inside a much bigger national argument.

Increasingly, critics of the government are asking whether Ghana is developing an unhealthy appetite for arresting people over speech.

The Media Foundation for West Africa says that during the first 16 months of the present NDC administration, it recorded 14 arrests involving laws on false news and offensive speech, compared with eight during the entire eight years of the previous government. The organisation has warned about what it describes as the growing criminalisation of speech.

Now this is where the jollof becomes particularly spicy.

In opposition, John Mahama himself complained about the “growing criminalisation of speech and journalism.”

The NDC's 2024 manifesto also promised to address laws it considered hostile to press freedom.

Politics is truly a miraculous profession.

Some principles apparently behave like Ghanaian politicians during election season: very visible in opposition, slightly harder to locate after inauguration.

Of course, freedom of speech does not mean freedom to threaten people.

If somebody genuinely incites violence, threatens the President, threatens the First Lady or commits an offence recognised by law, investigate it.

Charge the person.

Produce the evidence.

Let the courts decide.

Nobody needs democracy to become a national insult competition where the person with the cheapest data bundle becomes Minister for Abuse.

But there is another principle sitting at the same table:

Government officials must possess thicker skins than ordinary citizens.

Democracy cannot operate efficiently if every outrageous TikTok video causes the machinery of state to start warming up its engines.

The Ghana Bar Association itself has now raised concerns about arrests of social-media commentators and reminded authorities that bail conditions must be reasonable, proportionate and consistent with the presumption of innocence.

Government insists it is not suppressing free speech. Felix Kwakye Ofosu says the administration does not support intimidation and argues that enforcing laws against speech that threatens public safety should not automatically be described as suppression.

Fair enough.

But that is precisely why the public deserves clarity.

What exactly did Ghana Jollof say that constitutes incitement?

Which specific offence was committed?

Who committed it?

What evidence connects the people being arrested to that offence?

Because democracy becomes uncomfortable when citizens start wondering whether the safest response to government is no longer criticism but silence.

And power has a fascinating effect on political hearing.

From opposition, every police siren sounds like tyranny.

From government, the same siren suddenly sounds like law enforcement.

Yesterday's freedom fighter discovers Section 208.

Yesterday's government spokesperson suddenly discovers human rights.

The chairs change.

The speeches change.

The police station remains where it has always been.

So Nigerians may relax.

For once, nobody is debating whether Ghana Jollof tastes better than Nigerian Jollof.

Our problem is more fundamental.

Who cooked it?

And before we arrest the waitress, remand somebody who knows the restaurant, question the customer and issue an international notice for the chef, perhaps somebody should first tell Ghanaians exactly what was inside the pot.

Otherwise, at this rate, the only person who has not yet been invited to assist investigations...is the tomato.