A member of the NDC’s legal team, Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu, has blamed what he described as “overzealous” police officers for many of the arrests made under Ghana’s offensive conduct laws.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, he argued that the Criminal Code provisions on offensive conduct should not be weaponised against citizens.

Instead, he said they should be applied sparingly and only where necessary.

His comments come amid growing public debate following the sentencing of 43-year-old TikToker Camilla Alhassan to one year’s imprisonment with hard labour for offensive conduct conducive to breaches of the peace after she pleaded guilty to making offensive and derogatory remarks about President John Mahama in a TikTok video.

The conviction has triggered criticism from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which has described the sentence as an attack on free speech and pledged to support Alhassan’s appeal.

The party has also called on civil society groups, the Ghana Bar Association, the National Peace Council, the media and the diplomatic community to condemn what it says is the criminalisation of free expression.

Asked whether the offensive conduct provisions in the Criminal Code should be repealed, Mr Adawudu said the decision ultimately rests with Ghanaians.

“Yes, if that is the sentiment of the populace, that they want this to be repealed,” he said.

However, he maintained that the law still has a role to play in discouraging unacceptable conduct, particularly in the era of social media.

“Whilst this law should be there to serve as a deterrent to others… people who say unprintable things… there is a law that can catch up,” he stated.

Rejecting suggestions that the law criminalises free speech, Mr Adawudu argued that many social media posts go beyond legitimate expression.

“I think most of the things you see on social media this time are unprintable,” he said, adding that some political activists deliberately post insulting content to gain attention.

“It has become a route for party devotees to use it as a claim to fame. So now they go say things unprintable, insult others, insult leaders, and at the end of the day, they have a brush with the law.”

He said both major political parties have, at different times, rallied behind supporters arrested under the law because such incidents help energise their political base.

“It’s not just that you weaponise and use it against each other,” he cautioned.

Responding to claims that the law has been used at least 15 times under the current administration, Mr Adawudu said many of the arrests are initiated by police officers acting on their own.

“Normally from where I sit and what I know, it is some overzealous policemen… some overzealous policemen and law enforcers feel that this is what we do.”

He added that in many cases, senior police leadership may not even be aware of the arrests before suspects are processed through the courts.

Drawing on his experience defending similar cases during the previous NPP administration, Mr Adawudu said he represented several accused persons, including Bobbie and Oheneba, and witnessed how the law was applied.

He questioned the practical effectiveness of the legislation, saying many prosecutions fail to progress after suspects secure bail.

“For what I can see from my practice is that most of the charges that they use this section 207, 208… when bail is granted, it fizzles out.”