The founding president of Youth Icons Ghana, Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa, has stated that he is opposed to the proposed ban on social media by the Ghana Police Service (GPS) during this year’s elections.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, at a recently held workshop for members of the media fraternity, declared that the police service intended to block social media during this year’s elections.
But Mr Osei-Darkwa said “The panacea to a violent-free elections in November does not lie in shutting down social media platforms but rather through rigorous peace and nonviolence education of the citizenry, professional and responsible attitude of major stakeholders including the lead political actors, media, the Electoral Commission and the Ghana Police Service, who remain the lead security agency during elections.”
He stressed, “If political leaders cannot openly condemn party loyalists who spew out reckless and nation-wrecking statements to send out a strong signal that they are committed to the peace of Ghana, then shutting down social media cannot save the nation.”
In his view, “If politicians continue to owe their loyalty to political parties and not the state, then the peace we seek to desperately protect does not lie in shutting down social media platforms.”
Neutrality
Until the Police Service shows absolute neutrality to win the confidence of all major actors, he said, shutting down social media platforms would not guarantee the peace of our great nation.
“Above all, if the referee, the Electoral Commission of Ghana, does not exhibit neutrality and professionalism assuring all actors of a level playing field, then shutting down social media platforms would be much ado about nothing. The peace of Ghana would be kept or lost largely due to how the actors named would conduct themselves,” he noted.
Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa quizzed, “If social media platforms have become a major platform for campaigning by politicians and political parties in general, then on what basis does the same platform become a danger to the peace of Ghana?”
“Indeed, social media has become an integral part of our national life and a major component of mainstream journalism, where traditional media picks up leads to major news items, and that critical role of the citizenry actively engaging in the dissemination of information remains key,” he added.
He hinted that a shutdown of social media would be a very simplistic approach to dealing with the challenge, noting that it was going to even lead to more dire challenges where a highly understaffed police service, who could not be everywhere at the same time, would need the support of the citizenry to contribute to helping police the ballots and keeping the peace through information sharing.
The nonviolence expert opined that what the nation needed to do was to adequately educate the citizenry about who they should expect the final results from—the electoral commissioner.
“We have to come to the firm conclusion that with or without social media, people would still spread rumours even though I concede it would not be on the same magnitude as that of social media. I appreciate the apprehension of the police chief but I humbly beg to differ. We must as well contemplate shutting down all phone lines because if people have motives of announcing false results, they will do that anyway through text messages,” he added.
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