Majority Leader Defends Section 208 Of Criminal Code Amid Repeal Calls

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:02]Well, it's up for public discussion.

[00:00:07]Whether we want a country where anybody can just get up and say that journalists met with the majority leader and they shared 2 million Ghana cedis so that they can report, you know, in favor of government.

[00:00:25]And that all the parliament press corps have been corrupted.

[00:00:30]And they take money and that, you know, they don't do their work. They cover up whatever is happening in parliament.

[00:00:39]Do you like to live in that environment?

[00:00:44]You know, false publication.

[00:00:46]Yes.

[00:00:48]The response that, "Oh, so you go and correct it."

[00:00:55]I should go and correct it?

[00:00:58]You are in the media. Is it possible that when you publish something falsely about me, deliberately, knowing very well it's not true, even if I attempt to go and correct it, that all the people who heard you when you were saying it, that the same people will hear me when I was saying it?

[00:01:15]Is it possible?

[00:01:18]So, that is the issue that we should discuss as a nation.

[00:01:28]We are here representing you members of parliament.

[00:01:31]If you give an indication that that's the kind of society that you want, we don't have any other thing to do than to pass the kind of legislation that you want as a society. So, we are not thinking for the society. No.

[00:01:46]We pick signals from the society as to what they want.

[00:01:50]And then we consider it as members of parliament. We debate it.

[00:01:55]And then we uh approve whatever it is that you want.

[00:02:02]Do you want people to keep saying things on radio and publishing things that can lead to a breach of the peace?

[00:02:14]Okay?

[00:02:16]Can somebody just get up and do a video that says "All Ghaanians should sack all non-Ghaanians who are in Accra because they've taken over their lands."

[00:02:29]Are you getting the situation?

[00:02:31]You know, do you know the implications of that kind of statement?

[00:02:37]Some societies have experienced genocide, have experienced civil wars because people just use their media platforms to say things.

[00:02:52]Especially when the dominant majority in the society wants to take on a minority and they control the airwaves and the media, they'll just say all sort of things. And if there's no legislation to use to stop them, it could create problems.

[00:03:08]But it's up to us as Ghaanians if we think that um we should have a system where anybody can say whatever he wants to say and we don't care if it can lead to a breach of the peace, if it can unfairly damage the reputation of institutions.

[00:03:30]If it's an individual, me, you, you, you, you publish a false publication, I can go and then sue. Is that okay?

[00:03:36]But when you make a false publication about Parliament, it's an institution.

[00:03:44]Okay? When you make a false publication about the police service, when you make a false publication about the judiciary.

[00:03:54]Critical state institutions.

[00:03:56]And you know very well that what you are saying is not true.

[00:04:01]He quoted the decision.

[00:04:06]But that is in court.

[00:04:08]In court when you raise objection to a judge hearing your case on the basis of bias, that's when you the one alleging bias, you are being asked to actually bring the evidence of the bias which you are claiming.

[00:04:29]Okay?

[00:04:30]It was raised in Salala Attorney General, you know, as an objection. And so those are the instances when, you know, that applies. But the criminal court is simply talking about making statements that you know can lead to a breach of the peace and yet you go ahead and then make them. Making statements about public institutions that you know is false. You know that it's false because you don't really have any evidence to establish that. And then, you know, you still go ahead and then make those statements. If a journalist as happened in what's his name?

[00:05:07]The one who was hiding and then gathering evidence about judges.

[00:05:12]Anas Aremeyaw.

[00:05:13]I mean he managed to actually gather evidence. Is that not it?

[00:05:20]Of some judges engaging in conduct that we don't What he publishes, who could send him to court and prosecute him for, you know, statements that, you know, could lead to a breach of peace or false publication.

[00:05:32]He had He had built the evidence.

[00:05:34]He had built the base.

[00:05:36]Are you getting the situation? Even though you may not agree with the methods that he used to gather it, but once he has the evidence and says you you are corrupt, and this is my evidence. I actually have tape recordings of you.

[00:05:49]What are you going to say again?

[00:05:51]So, yes, the media space is opened up because of social media.

[00:05:57]But not everybody should try to be a journalist. You as a journalist, you've gone through the school, and you've been taught that don't publish something that is false, that you don't have evidence of. So, you know as a professional.

[00:06:08]But now social media, everybody thinks that they are journalists.

[00:06:12]You know, and that is where the problem is. If you have no legislation to deal with a situation like that, what happens to us?