New Patriotic Party flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has condemned the arrest and remand of Techiman-based nurse and mother of three, Salomey Bafor Awiti, over allegations of abetting the publication of false news.
In a statement, Dr Bawumia described as worrying reports that the nurse, who has a 4-year-old child, was picked up in the middle of the night by national intelligence officers and remanded for two weeks.
“This is not the Ghana we want to build. I can assure Ghanaians that when given the opportunity, our intelligence agencies will not be reduced to chasing citizens for insulting the President or anyone else,” he said.
Dr Bawumia said while he has always disavowed politics of insults and will continue to remind political actors to be decorous, criminalizing speech pushes democracy backwards.
“The ideas we need to transform our nation won’t come from insults. But I also remind the NDC government that any infringement on the right to free speech pushes our democracy backwards. Free speech, as unpalatable as it may be sometimes, is the foundation of our democracy,” he stated.
He also accused government of selectively applying the law, where some citizens insult and walk free while others are jailed because government does not like the target of their insults.
He called for the release of Salomey Bafor Awiti and others who have been similarly charged and jailed.
“God bless our homeland Ghana and help us to resist oppressors rule!,” he concluded.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
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