The price of irresponsible speech

The price of irresponsible speech should not be the loss of one’s liberty for such a protracted period of time. It is otherwise extortionate and definitely unjust and disproportionate.

Fellow Ghanaians, ‘Freedom of Expression’ or ‘Freedom of Speech' has become a very topical subject following the arrest of Oliver Barker-Vomawor.

President Nana Akuffo Addo once said he will rather have a critical and sometimes reckless media rather than one that is, meek and mild and engages in praise-singing; President Akufo-Addo said he abhors a sycophantic media which is likely to rob him of divergent views. Speaking at the Africa Summit at the London School of Economics (LSE), Nana Addo explained that sometimes the criticisms of a section of the media though irritating offers a broader perspective on national issues, It is ironic though that a person who thought the country needed fixing as such a matter of urgency as to seek to join in leading a demonstration should become rather so vexed as to engage and mingle in treasonable conduct. To engage in such conduct when Government appears to have conceived of an option that offers them light at the end of the tunnel – E-levy.

Freedom of Expression is a fundamental pillar of any vibrant democracy. It is indeed one of the tenets of and/or symbols of a true democracy. In Ghana, the truth in politics has become so difficult to identify that it is usually when you are on some frolic of sorts that you may walk into the truth. In today’s politics in Ghana, they think you are smart only when you are clever at telling lies and doing the wrong things well, contrary to John Major’s admonitions to his former fellow conservative Prime Minister. The truth is, arrests also have the risk of destabilizing or creating an atmosphere of instability.

Rawlings, if my memory is not playing any tricks on me, was actually in prison when the coup that led to his 1979 government was staged. My question is did intelligence at the time take its eyes off the actual stage? Does our security have institutional knowledge of what went wrong?

There was a time in the history of our dear country, particularly, from 1979 to 1992 when it would have been foolhardy to venture even a genuine opinion about a seemingly indiscreet act or policy of Government unless perhaps you belonged to organisations such as the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Student Representative Councils(SRCs), the Bar Association, Trade Unions etc; these organisations gave a bit of cover to their politically active members since it was assumed you represented a wide and legitimate institution, strand or school of thought of sorts.

That cover was however gradually blown away by the very Rawlings’ government, as student leaders got accused of and arrested for all manner of subversive conduct, often trumped-up, and sometimes interviewed on daytime Television, looking clearly harassed and/or tortured. Sometimes, they will retract statements and make seemingly fudged confessions and admissions.

Our freedoms today have been the result of a hard-fought endeavour; many of today’s politicians had no time or temerity to risk anything for Ghana’s Freedom. Some were busy working on their career or steadfastly working on their Grade Point Averages (G.P.A.) at university. When the veteran Sam Okudgeto says that some politicians are stupid for appearing to support coups or provoking the phenomenon by their conduct, I can understand the depth of his frustration.

Sam Okudzeto was one of the very few who could speak their minds during that period. Sam Okudzeto, Kwaku Baah etc. Some student leaders even jumped onto the trendy Socialist bandwagon whilst many of those were brave enough to withstand and oppose Rawling’s dictatorship, I wonder where the latter group are in our political geography.

University campuses were hotbeds for astounding political activism. Incidentally, Okudzeto represented the Bar Association, the Recognized Professional Bodies Association etc.

Every right, even across the free World, come with responsibilities. Freedom of Speech is not an unrestricted Right. It is not for nothing that the New Patriotic Party’s motto is ‘Development in Freedom.’ And like President Kufour is on record to have said, a free man is a lead factor in productivity. A free mind, in my view, is undoubtedly more creative and more useful to a nation. On the contrary, a suppressed mind obviously aims at saying things that will please his oppressors and his target audience, be it true or false.

Having said that, words are commonly interpreted by their context. Indeed, one of the concepts of statutory interpretation is the contextual approach. When I tell my friend that he is being stupid, it does not mean the same as directing the same words at a police officer in the course of performing his duties. How can you threaten a Coup, of whatever shape or form against the backdrop or the context of the threat of political instability at this side of the African continent? Oliver is a man of no mean intellect, who joined in leading the fix the country movement in recent demonstrations. Oliver is a Lecturer of one of Cambridge’s schools in the U.K. In the U.K. no one would blink an eyelid if you threatened a coup as against terrorist conduct; in point of fact a coup in the U.K. is so imponderable after so many ‘light years’ of Democracy, the irony or humour will not be lost on your audience.

Oliver has clearly spoken irresponsibly, without a doubt, because his words can, in the literal sense, clearly amount to incitement for those with the wherewithal or means to execute a coup; he calls the army useless in his outburst, presumably provoking them into action. I am very sorry for him because he was expected to be clearly beyond such loose talk, but we already struggle to enforce laws in this peaceful land of our birth. Did this gentleman not just engage in mere huffs and puffs? Government must be careful it doesn’t appear paranoid. Significant mistakes are bound to occur when Government is paranoid.

It is said that Justice delayed is justice denied. It is reported that the Chief Justice’s Office was required to empanel judges for the trial of Oliver but failed to do so before time and Oliver has been remanded in custody awaiting the next hearing on 28th February because the Judge did not have the power to grant bail for the renewed offence that poor Oliver was charged with. Oliver will be there for about 2 weeks (14 days) all for huffing and puffing, we will find. His Lawyer, Mr Akoto Ampaw NPP’s lead Lawyer describes the renewed charge as cynical. It is not entirely dissimilar from what Mahama’s courts did to Kennedy Akompreko Agyapong. Such conduct by the authorities is professionally unacceptable. This is not acceptable, especially under the watch of an NPP Government in 2022. If there are any lessons to be learnt, Oliver should have regretted the error of his ways by now, having been locked in custody in the last few days.

Irresponsible, if not careless, Oliver has been intending to incite a coup? Even if he would have wished so, the evidence will not stack up in a full-blown trial. Is it his wish that someone will act on his call? It is very probable, but we don’t know. Was it his wish to render the Nation ungovernable? He may have so wished. Oliver has really gone astray but we should develop our intelligence gathering machinery so strongly that in the future wanton arrests of the citizenry should be an option of last resort. A man’s liberty is one of the most protected rights under any modern constitution not to be withdrawn wily nily.

People should rather be put under surveillance for such seeming misdemeanours over a reasonable period of time and pounce on them whenever there is significant evidence of their intention to carry through their wishes. We do these things at the risk of doing irreparable damage to our Justice system. People strongly believe it is being used for clearly political ends.

Whichever overzealous police or A.G. holds the key to this matter should endeavour to employ more subtle or subterfuge forms of crime detection and release Oliver ASAP to make him available for the next News file.