BY GRACE ZIGAH
President John Dramani Mahama has called for a national stakeholder engagement on hate speech, abusive online content and responsible digital communication, opening a fresh national conversation about the increasingly hostile language that has characterised Ghana’s political discourse.
The President’s directive, contained in a September 22, 2026 letter from the Office of the President and signed by Secretary to the President Dr Callistus Mahama, asks the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to jointly convene the engagement.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of growing controversy over arrests and prosecutions linked to social-media commentary, as well as renewed scrutiny of the language used by politicians, political communicators, bloggers and online influencers during election campaigns and periods of intense political competition.
The Presidency says the objective is not to criminalise legitimate criticism, political commentary, satire or dissent, but to establish a clearer distinction between protected expression and content involving threats, incitement, violence or other unlawful conduct.
In the letter, President Mahama expressed concern that disproportionate arrests over criticism or politically charged commentary could become counterproductive, potentially create “undeserving martyrs” and undermine public confidence in state institutions.
The President therefore wants stakeholders to develop what the Presidency describes as a coherent national roadmap for dealing with harmful digital content while protecting freedom of expression.
The proposed engagement is expected to bring together the National Media Commission, Ghana Police Service, civil-society organisations, traditional media houses, bloggers, content creators and influencers, legal and human-rights experts, digital-platform representatives and relevant regulatory and security institutions.
Among the issues to be examined are the adequacy of existing laws, the distinction between lawful criticism and unlawful speech, guidelines for law-enforcement agencies, public education, digital literacy, ethical standards for online content creators and alternatives to arrest and prosecution in cases that do not involve clearly criminal conduct.
President Mahama’s call, however, comes after years in which political communication has frequently crossed from policy criticism into personal attacks and name-calling.
During the Akufo-Addo administration, some NDC communicators repeatedly used highly combative language against the former President and his government.
For instance, then NDC National Communications Officer Sammy Gyamfi described the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration in a 2020 statement as “incompetent, dishonest, nepotistic and corrupt,” while calling on voters to remove the government from office.
Those remarks were made as part of the NDC’s political campaign and criticism of the government’s economic record.
In another 2020 intervention, Gyamfi accused President Akufo-Addo of “dishonesty and hypocrisy” during a dispute over the voter-registration exercise and described the administration as “despotic, tyrannical and tribalistic.”
In February 2023, while the NDC was in opposition, Sammy Gyamfi again accused the Akufo-Addo government of “insensitivity” and “intransigence” over its refusal to substantially reduce the size of government.
Such statements were part of a broader political environment in which both the NDC and NPP frequently traded accusations and personal attacks, particularly on radio, television and, increasingly, social media.
The problem was not confined to politicians. Political activists and commentators also became major participants in the increasingly aggressive online political ecosystem.
Among the most prominent examples is US-based Ghanaian broadcaster Kevin Ekow Baidoo Taylor, whose Loud Silence Media broadcasts have for years targeted politicians and public figures on the other side of the political divide.
Taylor became particularly known for his attacks on the Akufo-Addo administration and senior NPP figures. Reports and compilations of his broadcasts have documented his repeated criticism and personal attacks against Akufo-Addo, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, former Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia and other public figures.
The characterisation of Taylor as an NDC operative, however, has been disputed. In September 2026, NDC Deputy General Secretary Mustapha Gbande publicly said Taylor does not speak for the NDC and claimed that Taylor had also attacked President Mahama and NDC officials.
In August 2026, lawyer Martin Kpebu, who has publicly identified with the NDC political tradition, questioned why Taylor received security protection whenever he visited Ghana despite his history of harsh commentary against prominent personalities.
Those claims about state protection were reported as Kpebu’s assertions and are not independently established by the Presidency’s September 22 letter.
The debate has become even more sensitive under the current administration following a series of arrests and prosecutions connected to social-media content.
The cases have generated competing arguments over where the state should draw the line between political criticism and unlawful communication.
Supporters of tougher enforcement argue that threats, incitement and deliberate dissemination of harmful false information cannot be protected simply because they are published online.
Civil-liberties advocates, opposition politicians and some media organisations, meanwhile, have raised concerns about whether arrests and criminal proceedings could have a chilling effect on legitimate criticism of government.
