The Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, George Amoh, has emphasised the need for Ghana to tackle misinformation in cyberspace.

According to him, harmful behaviours such as hate speech, indecent expression, and intolerance, which threaten peace in the physical world, are now prevalent online.

Speaking at the JoyNews National Dialogue on Cybersecurity at Election 2024 Crossroads on Wednesday, October 16, he noted that while vigilantism may no longer manifest physically as before, its digital forms—such as hate speech, misinformation, and ethnocentric messages—are spreading across social media platforms.

Mr Amoh stressed that the widespread use and influence of cyberspace should alert the country to the need for proactive action.

He underscored the urgency of addressing this issue before the December 7 elections.

“The issue is existential, and we must find ways of countering it to avoid waking up after the December 7th elections to situations that will be difficult to contain.”

He further stressed the importance of building consensus on strategies to manage potential online crises during and after the elections.

“There should be a consensus on what we have to do as a country if something untoward happens. The political actors—there should probably be a conversation,” he urged.

As part of the Council’s efforts, Mr. Amoh mentioned that the National Peace Council is working with the Cybersecurity Authority to implement preventive measures.

“We’ve developed some guidelines on hate speech and indecent language. We are sharing this information as much as we can on our social media platforms to encourage Ghanaians to use the same space to build the peace we all want to have before and after the December elections,” he added.