Let law take course in false news matter!v
On the surface, one would wonder why the Electoral Commission (EC) would have to insist to the public that the 2024 general election will be held on December 7, 2024, starting from 7a.m. to 5p.m. as scheduled.
In other words, by a statement issued in Accra on Saturday, it is urging the public to disregard any public announcement or information that the election will be held on different days other than the only scheduled day, December 7, 2024.
The EC is serious with its emphasis on the scheduled December 7 date because there is a video circulating on social media that the presidential election in particular will be held on different days for the candidates.
The EC is specific that there is a video on social media claiming the elections would be held on two separate days.
Yesterday, The Ghanaian Times published a story that a presenter in a Kumasi-based media house, Wontumi TV and FM, Oheneba Nana Asiedu, was the suspect in the said video and that he had been arrested on Saturday for offences, including publication of false news, to assist the police in investigation.
The suspect is claiming that the December 7 presidential election would be held for candidates from number one to seven on the ballot paper, while those from number eight would be cast on different dates after December 7.
According to the police, the suspect has been arrested and charged with offences, including publication of false news but been granted bail to assist with investigations.
A police statement confirmed that the case would be presented before the court for legal proceedings.
It is instructive to learn that the country’s Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), Section 208, deals with the publication of false news or report to the extent that the person doing so can be charged with misdemeanour under Section 208 and fined or imprisoned (up to 3 years).
The Ghanaian Times is happy that there is a law dealing with publication of false news, which can be in the forms of misinformation and disinformation.
Whether police investigations confirm the culpability of Oheneba or otherwise and without any reference, prejudice or allusion to court proceedings, The Ghanaian Times wishes to express some opinion on the publication of false news as it has been doing any time the occasion presents itself.
First, even though it is yet to be established when exactly the video in question was recorded, it was something that should not have been published at all even if it had been recorded.
We say this because earlier in last week, precisely on Wednesday, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, had asked the media to work closely with the police to curb misinformation and disinformation before, during and after the general election.
The IGP had cautioned that misinformation and disinformation had the potential to disrupt the smooth running of the elections and cause chaos.
With this fresh reminder, why should anyone have the guts to circulate such video?
What was the motive and how was that going to work? Did whoever recorded and published the video think Ghanaians are blockheads and so would pander to his whims and caprices?
It is sad that some media personnel have the impudence to think that they know it all and also they are untouchable because they have bigwigs to save them from all troubles because such big people can bypass the law.
But it is sadder when such men of no integrity go to the rescue of disgruntled people caught in the web of law.
Such rescue mission is nation-wreaking, lawless in itself and must be stopped for the law to take its course.
All ears are open to hear how this false video case would go.
