Police officer arrested for insulting Ghanaian leaders

A police officer, Corporal Frederick Kwaku Dzemeki, has been arrested for insulting the country’s leaders on social media.

He was detained for misconduct by the Tema Regional Police Command after hurling disparaging remarks during an online show hosted by media personality Captain Smart.

A police wireless message from the Tema Regional Police Commander had requested Corporal Dzemeki at the Regional Headquarters to face sanctions.

The cop stationed at Prampram is likely to face the police disciplinary committee on Friday, May 28, for his conduct.

 

Previous incidents

In 2006, a popular serial caller of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was arrested for allegedly insulting the then President, John Agyekum Kufour.

Bobby was arrested in Takoradi by both officers from the Western Regional Command and Kwesimintsim Division of the Ghana Police Service.

A similar incident happened in 2010 when a self-styled social commentator believed to have allegiance to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) described the then President John Evans Atta Mills as a ”chimpanzee” in a radio discussion on Fox FM, a Kumasi based private station. 

The police later picked up Alexander Adu Gyamfi to explain his actions, infuriating some NDC youth who besieged the radio station minutes after the derogatory remarks to attack him.

This was the second time an NPP social commentator had been arrested for unsavoury remarks in the media.

In the first case, one Nana Darkwa Baafi was arrested for accusing former President Rawlings of deliberately setting fire to his Ridge residence. He made the statements on an Accra-based private radio station TOP Radio.

The police arrested and detained a political activist, Frank Kwaku Appiah, for insulting President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017.

Frank Appiah, popularly known as Appiah Stadium, a serial radio caller and commentator for the opposition NDC, allegedly said in a widely circulated audio that the President smokes weed.

Following the audio leakage on social media, the Ashanti Regional police arrested the Kumasi-based activist on September 26, 2017.

Subsequently, he was transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) headquarters in Accra for interrogation.

He was later released after the President had called on the police to drop an “incitement” case against the suspect.

In the Volta Region, a  radio show host and a panellist were invited by the Police  CID for interrogation after allegations that they insulted President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Mohammed, the show host on Sela Radio in the Volta Region, was alleged to have allowed Luis Adjin, a panellist on his show, to use some unprintable words on the President, the police in the region said.

This incident happened in 2018.

Fast forward to May 2020, a 24-year-old Ghanaian social media user, Bless Amedegbe, was arrested by police for trying to rally Ghanaians to kill police officers and burn President Nana Akufo-Addo’s house.

In a video shot when the President imposed a three-week lockdown to control the contagion spread, Bless Kodjoe incited the public to defy anti-coronavirus directives.

He charged Ghanaians to revolt against national authority and retaliate with attacks on law enforcement personnel if opposed.

He later explained that it was a joke, but his case is still pending in court after being granted bail.

Self-acclaimed Apostle insults Akufo-Addo, threatens EC boss

A self-acclaimed pastor, Apostle Kwabena Owusu Agyei, was arraigned on June 9, 2020, after threatening Mrs Mensa.

Apostle Owusu Adjei caused a stir when he threatened to kill her if she goes ahead to compile a new voter register for the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

He threatened to stop the compilation of the new register and threatened that should the EC boss go ahead with the registration, she will die young at midnight, although he did not mention any specific day.

The same person rained insults on President Akufo-Addo.

Power FM presenter arrested for insulting, threatening Akufo-Addo

A journalist with Accra-based Power FM, Oheneba Boamah Bennie, was in December 2020 invited by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for allegedly insulting and threatening the President Akufo-Addo.

The radio presenter recorded a live video on his Facebook page in which he was allegedly heard insulting and issuing a series of threats against the President.

Is it an offence to insult the President?

Presidents in Ghana since the early 2000s have been subjected to insults by opposition members in the media.

These developments sparked a conversation in Ghana’s media about the appropriateness to arrest and prosecute persons who insulted presidents.

It was believed these individuals were only exercising their right to free speech as enshrined in the 1992 constitution.

However, a legal luminary, Ace Ankomah, in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM, said it was not an offence to insult the president per the criminal code of the 1992 constitution.

He explained that before 2001, there was an offence called insulting the president, but as part of the 2001 repeal of the Criminal Libel Regime, that section of the Criminal and other Offences Act were repealed.

“Technically, insulting the president is no longer an offence under our laws. Meanwhile, insulting a chief remains an offence which should never be criminalised,” he stated.