The General Secretary of the New Media Association of Ghana says members of his association are not opposed to regulation, but have serious concerns about the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill currently being discussed by government.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, November 3, Jibriel Suliah Jagbesie said they welcome efforts to bring structure to Ghana’s fast-growing digital media space, but insists the current draft bill lacks clarity and could easily be abused.

“We are happy we are going to be regulated. We don’t have a problem with that,” he said.

“I think everybody needs to be regulated. But what we are scared of is the policing side of it. We are also scared about the accountability side of it.”

He explained that members are worried about vague clauses that give authorities broad powers to penalise content creators without clear justification.

“If you say that I have done something and then you are coming to take my mobile phone for what I have done, you should be able to give me clear guidelines to tell me exactly what has happened.

"The new draft that we are seeing is vague, and most of our members are complaining about it,” he stated.

Mr Jagbesie said the Association — which represents over 200 bloggers, photographers, content creators and online journalists — should have been part of the drafting process.

“When something like this is coming, we should be involved,” he stressed.

He also questioned the harsh penalties being proposed for misinformation.

“Even the traditional media sometimes get it a bit wrong,” he said. “So if you get it a bit wrong, does that mean that you should be imprisoned for five years?”

Despite the concerns, he acknowledged that the government has been engaging the digital media community on several fronts, citing their collaboration with the Communication Ministry on digital monetisation.

“The Minister, Sam Nartey George, introduced us to TikTok, so we can use our platforms to monetise and be able to get paid, so I think government is working well with the other things. But with respect to this particular bill, we haven’t been engaged,” he noted.

Chairman of Parliament’s Information and Communication Committee, Abdendego Lamangin Bandim, who was also on the show, urged calm, saying the bill was still at a consultation stage.

He said the Communication Ministry had deliberately opened the process for public feedback.

“We are just starting the process, and somebody must drive through, which is the Communication Ministry,” he said.

“The Minister thinks that the best thing to do is to put the bill in its current form and allow public engagement. So if you have concerns, you can send your concerns for consideration.”