Police Service rescinds decision to ban social media
The Ghana Police Service has backtracked on an earlier suggestion that it would ban social media on Election Day.
According to the Communications Director of the Police Service, Superintendent Cephas Arthur, the ban was one of the alternatives under consideration by the Police.
He explained that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor’s suggestion to ban social media was made on the spur of the moment.
Speaking at Blogging Ghana’s Blog Camp on Saturday, Cephas Arthur said, “The IGP used the word alternatives but it looks as if nobody heard the other alternatives that he mentioned because nobody is discussing that. This was not part of his speech. It was a kind of off the top of his head answer.”
“Let us not be alarmed. The IGP is not about to block social media on election day and we are going to have our social media,” Cephas Arthur said.
Last month, the IGP said at a media interaction in Accra that it is considering shutting down social media services in the country on November 7, the day of the general election to avoid violence.
According to the Inspector General of Police, Mr John Kudalor, the abuse of social media platforms by both political parties and ordinary Ghanaians had often created unnecessary tension in the country.
“At one stage I said that if it becomes critical on the eve and also on the Election Day, we shall block all social media as other countries have done. We’re thinking about it,” the IGP said.
Read: We may block social media on election day — IGP
The IGP’s suggestion however received a lot of backlash, with some describing it as undemocratic.
The United Nations also waded into the debate, stating that they would oppose any attempt to block social media ahead of the elections.
The special representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas said: “I should say without hesitation that from a UN point of view, we would be obviously averse to any steps that will amount to restricting the democratic space, particularly any steps that will be taken to restrict the freedom of expression.”
Alternatives
The Project lead of Ghana Decides, Kinna Likimani, stated that her group is willing to “work with the police” to use social media to enhance their work as well as boost their visibility.
“The threat to our peace and social media freedom is real. We have to empower our security forces to handle social media. The sooner the better.” she added.
One of the Police chief’s major worries at the time was the likelihood that the activities of social media ‘bullies and trolls’ would intensify ahead of the polls in November.
However, IT expert Maximus Ametorgoh offered a solution to this, stating there was a way to track down potential social media hooligans.
“There are softwares which the police can use to find specific keywords on social media to track inciters,” he explained.
Credit: Ghana Decides
