Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has criticised the arrest and remand of Salomey Bafor Awiti, a nurse and mother of three, over an alleged case involving the publication of false news. Bawumia said the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the Techiman-based nurse, who has a four-year-old child, raise concerns about the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms in Ghana.
In a social media post on Friday, September 18, Bawumia expressed concern over reports that national intelligence officers picked up the nurse in the middle of the night before she was subsequently remanded for two weeks. “This is not the Ghana we want to build,” he said, assuring Ghanaians that, under his leadership, intelligence agencies would not be used to pursue citizens over insults directed at the President or other individuals.
Salomey was reportedly linked to the anonymous “Ghana Jollof” social media account. Subsequently, London-based Ghanaian nurse Barbara Asantewaa Kodua was declared wanted after being identified as the alleged operator of the account. Bawumia said he has consistently opposed the use of insults in political discourse and called on political actors and citizens to engage one another with respect.
“I have always disavowed a politics of insults and will remind all in the political space of the need to be decorous. The ideas we need to transform our nation won’t come from insults,” he said. However, he cautioned the NDC government against infringing on citizens’ right to free speech, arguing that such actions could undermine Ghana’s democracy.
“Free speech, as unpalatable as it may be sometimes, is the foundation of our democracy,” he added. Bawumia also criticised what he described as the selective application of the law, arguing that citizens who engage in similar conduct should receive equal treatment regardless of the political status of the person targeted.
“Even more worrying is the government’s continuous selective application of our laws. Some citizens can insult and walk freely and others are jailed because the government doesn’t like the target of their insults,” he said.
