Source: Africa Publicity
Richard Ahiagbah, Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party, has accused the government of President John Dramani Mahama of undermining democratic freedoms and criminalizing free speech in Ghana.
In a strongly worded statement titled “The Criminalization of Free Speech: Ghana’s Democracy Is Under Siege,” Ahiagbah claimed the country was witnessing “a deliberate, systematic dismantling of the freedoms that define us as a democratic republic.”
“I do not use the word siege lightly,” he wrote. “What is happening in Ghana today is not politics as usual. It is a deliberate, systematic dismantling of the freedoms that define us as a democratic republic, and every Ghanaian, regardless of whom you voted for, must be deeply concerned.”
Ahiagbah urged Ghanaians to pay close attention to what he described as growing state intimidation through the country’s institutions.
“I respectfully urge all Ghanaians to pay urgent attention to what this government is doing in our name, through our institutions, and at the expense of our rights,” he stated.
Central to his criticism was the detention of Kwame Baffoe Abronye, popularly known as Abronye DC. According to Ahiagbah, the legal grounds for Abronye’s detention represented a dangerous precedent.
“The prosecution argued, and the court accepted, that Abronye would commit a crime at some unspecified future time. No evidence of an ongoing offense. No demonstration of immediate danger. Just a claim, and a judge accepted it,” he said.
“The courts are not oracles. Judges are not prophets. The freedom of a Ghanaian cannot be taken away based on guesses dressed up as law. What happened in that courtroom was not justice. It was a judicial theatre, performed for political reasons.”
Ahiagbah also questioned what he described as an unusual delay in the issuance of the written ruling on the detention order.
“I must also note that the written ruling was issued 7 clear days after the detention order. Seven days. For a bail decision,” he wrote. “Ghanaians deserve a convincing explanation for the unusual delay, and I am appealing to the Judicial Service of Ghana and the Ghana Bar Association to demand one.”
The NPP communications director further listed 15 individuals he claimed had been arrested or prosecuted over comments made on social media, arguing that the developments pointed to a broader clampdown on free expression.
“I mention these names deliberately because they are mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters, your neighbors,” Ahiagbah said. “They only spoke out, and now they are paying a price no democracy worth the name should impose.”
He warned that Ghana risked becoming “a digital police state.”
“Ghana has quietly crossed a dangerous line. We are in the early stages of a digital police state, and most Ghanaians are beginning to notice it,” he stated.
Ahiagbah also used the statement to draw political distinctions between the governing National Democratic Congress and the opposition NPP, promising that democratic freedoms would be protected under a future administration led by Mahamudu Bawumia.
“But Ghanaians can trust the New Patriotic Party and not fear the degeneration of democratic values under a Bawumia Presidency,” he said. “This is because we are committed to free expression, judicial independence, and every democratic value enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.”
He further criticized the Mahama administration, saying: “The NDC-Mahama government must understand that a democracy without free speech is not a democracy.
It is managed silence, a false appearance of governance behind which fear controls everything.”
Ahiagbah concluded with a message of encouragement to Abronye and a broader call for citizens to continue exercising their constitutional rights.
“Do not be intimidated. Do not be silenced. Free speech is not a privilege to be granted by governments when it suits them. It is our inalienable right,” he said.
