By Daniel Bampoe
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has intensified its criticism of the Mahama administration following the one-year prison sentence handed to TikTok content creator Camilla Alhassan, alleging that the case reflects an emerging pattern of suppressing dissent and intimidating government critics through the criminal justice system.
National Organiser of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye, has accused the government of using state institutions to stifle free expression, arguing that the circumstances surrounding Camilla Alhassan’s arrest, prosecution and conviction raise serious concerns about due process and the protection of constitutional rights.
Camilla Alhassan was sentenced by an Accra Circuit Court on Thursday, July 16, 2026, after pleading guilty to charges of offensive conduct and publication of false news over a series of TikTok videos she posted between June 30 and July 5, 2026.
In the videos, she alleged that President John Dramani Mahama had sacrificed 32 cows to secure political power and further claimed that the government’s distribution of sanitary pads to victims of the June 29 floods was intended to conceal the alleged rituals.
The court convicted her on the charges and sentenced her to one year imprisonment. However, a separate charge of electronic abuse was struck out after the court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to determine that particular offence.
While the conviction has generated mixed public reactions, the NPP insists that the greater issue lies in the manner in which the prosecution was conducted.
According to Henry Nana Boakye, Camilla was arrested by the police on Friday, July 10, 2026, and immediately arraigned before a court without first being granted access to legal representation or members of her family.
He that that under those circumstances, the TikToker entered a guilty plea without the benefit of legal advice, a development the party believes compromised the fairness of the proceedings from the outset.
The NPP National Organiser further claimed that when members of Camilla’s family and her lawyers eventually traced her to the Spintex Police Station the following day after searching several police stations, they found that she had allegedly been physically assaulted while in police custody.
According to him, the alleged assault was acknowledged in the presence of her lawyers, family members and a senior police officer who had reportedly transported her to the station.
Mr. Boakye disclosed that on Monday, July 13, 2026, Camilla’s legal team filed an application before the Circuit Court seeking an order for her plea to be retaken.
According to him, the lawyers argued that the earlier guilty plea had been entered without adequate legal representation and therefore should be set aside to allow the prosecution to prove its case through a full trial.
He said the application was accepted by the court registry and scheduled for hearing on July 23, 2026.
However, the NPP says events took an unexpected turn when Camilla appeared before the Circuit Court on Thursday.
According to Henry Nana Boakye, instead of considering the pending application, the presiding judge briefly heard counsel before proceeding to convict and sentence the accused person to one year imprisonment.
He argued that the court failed to acknowledge the outstanding motion seeking to have the plea retaken, describing the development as a miscarriage of justice.
The National Organiser further contended that although freedom of expression is not absolute, constitutional protections extend to speech that may be offensive or unpopular, and that existing civil remedies such as defamation laws provide appropriate mechanisms for addressing such disputes.
He accused the Mahama administration of increasingly relying on law enforcement agencies to target political opponents and critics, warning that such actions risk reviving what the opposition describes as a “culture of silence.”
Henry Nana Boakye maintained that the NPP remains committed to defending constitutional freedoms and announced that Camilla Alhassan’s legal team is preparing to challenge the conviction at the Court of Appeal.
According to him, the appeal will seek to overturn both the conviction and custodial sentence on grounds that the accused was denied a fair opportunity to defend herself before entering her plea.
