A legal luminary Ace Ankomah has stated firmly that insulting the President per the Criminal Code of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, cannot be considered an offence.
His assertion follows the recent use of abusive language against President John Evans Atta Mills.
In the latest case, a self-styled social commentator believed to have allegiance to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), described the President as a ”chimpanzee” in a radio discussion on Fox FM, a Kumasi-based private station.
The man Alexander Adu Gyamfi was later picked up by the police to explain his actions which had infuriated some NDC youth who besieged the radio station minutes after the derogatory remarks to attack him.
This is the second time an NPP social commentator has 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 case is pending in court.
These occurrences have kicked start discussions in the media with some questioning the appropriateness of prosecuting individuals who express themselves freely as the constitution stipulates.
The Police in the Ashanti Region says Alexander Adu Gyamfi will appear in court on Wednesday to face charges of offensive conduct.
However Mr Ace Ankomah, a private legal practitioner told Citi News that per the criminal code of the 1992 constitution currently, it is not an offence to insult the president.
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but as part of the 2001 repeal of the Criminal Libel Regime, that section of the Criminal and other Offences Act was repealed.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.
According to Mr. Ace Ankomah, the only remedy to the situation is for Ghanaians and the leadership of the New Patriotic Party in particular to condemn the statement entirely and dissociate itself from it.
“And so in a situation like this, this is what I think the NPP and the good people of Ghana should do, we should insist that the NPP condemns this gentleman’s statement. Dissociate yourself from it and condemn it.
“This is the highest office of the land occupied by a man voted by Ghanaians, and we can’t have any Tom, Dick and Harry get up in a radio station and describe him in such unpalatable language” he said passionately.”
