A member of the NDC’s legal team, Victor Kwadjoga Adawudu, has urged caution over growing calls to repeal the criminal offensive conduct provisions, insisting the law still serves an important purpose despite concerns over its abuse.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Adawudu argued that the law should remain in place as a deterrent, especially in the era of social media, where he believes offensive and abusive speech has become widespread.
His comments come after an Accra Circuit Court sentenced 43-year-old TikToker Camilla Alhassan to one year in prison with hard labour after she pleaded guilty to offensive conduct conducive to breaches of the peace.
Prosecutors said she made offensive and derogatory remarks about President John Mahama in a TikTok video intercepted by the Ghana Police Service.
The case has sparked criticism from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), which described the sentence as an attack on free speech and pledged to support Alhassan’s appeal.
The party also called on civil society, the Ghana Bar Association, the National Peace Council, the media and the diplomatic community to oppose what it called the criminalisation of free expression.
Asked whether the law should now be repealed, Mr Adawudu said the decision ultimately rests with the Ghanaian public.
“Yes, if that is the sentiment of the populace, that they want this to be repealed. I think that if they see sense in using it, and I would say today, even with the emergence of social media publication, those days when this law was there, we never saw that there would be social media today that would be having all this,” he said.
He argued that lawmakers could not have anticipated the rise of social media when the law was enacted decades ago.
“I think that whilst this law should be there to serve as a deterrent to others, people who say unprintable things, it is for the people to know that when I do anything which is misguided, unguided, or say unprintable words, there is a law that can catch up.”
Rejecting suggestions that the law criminalises free speech, Mr Adawudu said many online publications now go beyond legitimate expression.
“I think most of the things you see on social media this time are unprintable,” he said.
He also warned against political parties turning prosecutions into opportunities to rally supporters.
“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.”
According to him, both the NDC and the NPP have benefited politically when supporters are prosecuted under the law.
“What do you see? You see the whole party machinery jumps in, and for the party, what it helps them is to energise the base. It is done by both parties.”
He therefore argued that the law should remain but be applied with restraint.
“I think that it will be there to serve by using it sparingly. It’s not just that you weaponise and use it against each other.”
Responding to claims that the law has been used repeatedly under the current administration, Mr Adawudu blamed “overzealous policemen” and law enforcement officers rather than political direction from the top.
Drawing on his experience as a lawyer, he said he defended several people charged under the same provisions during the previous NPP administration, including Bobbie and Oheneba.
Reflecting on those cases, he said many prosecutions eventually collapsed.
“For what I can see from my practice is that most of the charges that they use this section 207, 208, at the end of the day, when bail is granted, it fizzles out.”
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