Former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has condemned the arrest and two-week remand of Techiman-based nurse and mother of three, Salomey Bafor Awiti, saying the development does not represent “the Ghana we want to build.”
Dr. Bawumia said Madam Awiti was picked up in the middle of the night by national intelligence officers and subsequently remanded over an allegation of abetting the publication of false news.
“This is not the Ghana we want to build,” Dr. Bawumia said in a statement on Friday, September 18.
He said that, if given the opportunity to govern, his administration would not allow intelligence agencies to be used to pursue citizens over insults directed at the President or other public officials.
“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, however, stressed that he does not support political insults and urged actors in the political space to maintain decorum.
“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.
He nevertheless cautioned the government against actions that could infringe on citizens’ right to free expression, describing freedom of speech as a fundamental pillar of Ghana’s democracy.
“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,” Dr Bawumia said.
He further accused the government of what he described as the selective application of laws, arguing that some people are allowed to make insulting comments without facing arrest while others are prosecuted depending on 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.
Dr. Bawumia subsequently called for the release of Madam Awiti and other citizens whom he said had been similarly charged and detained.
Madam Awiti is facing an allegation of abetting the publication of false news and was remanded for two weeks by the Adenta Circuit Court.
The case has attracted criticism from the NPP, which has also called for her release and raised concerns about the handling of the matter.
