The Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Kojo Pumpuni Asante, has expressed concern over what he describes as a growing pattern of arrests connected to alleged free speech violations in Ghana.

His remarks follow a petition by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the Diplomatic Corps over the arrest of the party’s Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC, who is facing charges under Sections 207 and 208 of the Criminal Offences Act for alleged offensive conduct and related offences.

Dr Asante warned that the increasing use of arrests in matters relating to speech and public commentary could set a dangerous precedent if not carefully managed.

“When you start arresting people for insults, other kinds of behavior, including commentary on public policy and things like that, that is a slippery slope nobody wants to get in. This is not just a question of whether it is political actors,” he stated.

According to him, such developments could ultimately affect journalists, media practitioners, online commentators and ordinary citizens if broad interpretations of criminal speech are allowed to persist.

“We are all going to be at risk if our voices are going to be attacked that way. This is about citizens; it happened to even media people online,” he added.

Dr Asante also raised concerns about the proposed legislation on misinformation, disinformation and hate speech currently under discussion, arguing that aspects of the draft law appear too broad and may threaten constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

Speaking on Citi FM, he noted that CDD-Ghana had already expressed strong reservations about portions of the proposed bill from the Ministry of Communication.

“We have said that there is currently some legislation that is making the rounds, I think from the Ministry of Communication, on information, misinformation, we have expressed very strong reservations against it because of the broad scope of actions that they see as criminal,” he said.

“I think it will be a big mistake to go down that tangent. So there needs to be a really public conversation. We are willing to provide the platform to have this conversation. We are very concerned,” he added.

Dr Asante stressed the need for broader national engagement on the proposed legislation to ensure that efforts to combat misinformation do not undermine freedom of expression and democratic accountability.