‘Subtle return of criminal libel law under Nana Addo very shameful’ — Suhuyini

Tamale North lawmaker, Alhassan Suhuyini, has expressed concern about President Akufo-Addo’s silence on the recent arrests and criminal prosecution of some journalists.

According to him, the situation can best be seen as a creeping reintroduction of the Criminal Libel Law abolished years ago.

The legislator’s concern is that the President under whose watch as Attorney General led to the removal of the law seems unmoved by the latest happenings.

This according to Alhassan Suhuyini is defeating the very purpose for which the criminal libel law was repealed.

“It is indeed a shame that the President claims pride in his role in the repeal of the criminal libel law and today having to supervise a backdoor introduction of the criminal libel law. So what is happening is a dent in his record and the earlier he woke up to reality, the better for his image and the peace of this country”, the MP said on the Big Issue on Citi FM/Citi TV.

In 2001, the Criminal Code (Repeal of Criminal Libel and Seditious Laws) (Amendment) Act, 2001 (Act 602) was repealed.

But there are now growing concerns about the resurfacing of the law following the prosecution of journalists over some media publications as against exercising free speech and expression.

The Tamale North MP even believes the President has paid lip service to ensuring press freedom.

“If you juxtapose what the President has said about media freedom in the past to the developments we are witnessing under him as President, you wonder if this is just like the many things he has said to us that he honestly didn’t seem to mean. He said them just because they sounded right but had no commitment to them”, he added.

Already, three Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), are demanding an immediate stop to what they say is the “apparent resurrection” of the long abolished criminal libel law in the country.

The groups – Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), IMANI Africa and the Africa Center for International Law & Accountability (ACILA), say their concerns follow the recent series of arrests and prosecution of individuals whose statements have been captured in sections of the media and are said to pose some security threat.

In a joint press statement, the organisations were not happy with the manner some persons are being prosecuted, saying it has heightened fears over the possible return of the age-old criminal libel law in the country.

“We are deeply troubled by the growing use of the prosecutorial and judicial power of the State to punish criminally speech that allegedly falsely injures or damages the reputation of other persons or of an institution of state”, the statement read in parts.

“Instructively, during the heyday of the criminal libel law in the 1990s, the criminal law was used in precisely the way it is now being used: to prosecute and punish journalists and public speakers for allegedly false or defamatory statements against certain family members or associates of the President”, the CSOs further added.

The CSOs, therefore, asked for the use of the various legal channels rather than the wanton abuse of power against the rights of the ordinary Ghanaian.