Threats to kill President and his children are crime, not free speech – Kwakye Ofosu

Death threats against President John Dramani Mahama and his children are criminal acts and cannot be defended as free expression, the Minister of State for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has said.

Speaking on behalf of the President at the 30th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Media Awards in Accra on Saturday night, 7 November, Mr Kwakye Ofosu said: "Threatening to kill a president and his children is not free speech. It is brazen criminality." He urged political leaders not to excuse such conduct for partisan advantage.

He said efforts to tackle incitement must not be used to silence dissent, arguing that democracy can accommodate disagreement but not the deliberate incitement of hatred and violence. He did not give details of any specific threat or say whether any investigation or arrest had followed.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu also renewed the government's commitment to finding the killers of Tiger Eye PI investigative journalist Ahmed Suale, who was shot dead in Madina, Accra, in January 2019. "Journalists in our country lost their lives in pursuit of accountability, and I refer to the unfortunate killing of Ahmed Suale, whose murder remains unsolved, and the government remains committed to unraveling it," he said.

No one has been convicted over Suale's killing. The minister also recalled that journalists in northern Ghana had previously fled the country for fear of their lives after publishing uncomfortable reports.