Nov Polls: We’ll ‘clamp down’ on warmongering FM stations – IGP

The Ghana Police Service will clamp down on radio stations that propagate falsehood to incite violence in the lead up to the November polls, Inspector General of Police (IGP) John Kudalor has said.

The IGP has come under fire from various quarters after he said the police was considering a blackout of social media on Election Day.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has vowed to resist any such move, describing the suggestion as a machination to keep some people in power.

Speaking to Class News Friday, May 27, the IGP said the police will closely monitor radio stations and apply sanctions if need be to those media houses that flout the rules.

“The stations are easily identifiable, we know their wavelengths, and they will also be on air and identify themselves. … Tracking them is very easy,” he stated.

“If we find out anybody or any [radio station] is going to do something which will cause [confusion] in society, we will not hesitate to clamp down on them and it is very easy to clamp down on them.

“I think they [journalists] themselves at the meeting said they will prefer police security and I jokingly told them that…if you go and say things that will incite and are true, then of course people may attack you, but that is not to say they have the right to attack you. We should all try to do everything with circumspection, decorum, tact, and the bottom line must be the truth, nothing, but the truth”, Mr Kudalor said.