Shut down radio stations for media excesses too – Korsah tells IGP

The Director of Elections for the opposition New Patriotic Party(NPP), Martin Agyei Mensah Korsah has slammed Inspector General of Police over plans to shut down social media platforms on the eve of elections.

“It is just one of the usual machinations to clamp down on free expression, and people’s exposure of some of the things that are going on around this government – it is not entirely the case that there is some security threat anywhere, otherwise like I’ve said you’ll find this excesses almost everywhere.”

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) John Kudalor has announced the Ghana Police Service is considering blocking social media across the country on election day.

He is concerned that social media could be used as a tool for misinformation thus posing a danger to the nation’s security during the polls.

But the NPP’s Adjei-Mensah Korsah said if IGP will want to block social media platforms, then he should as well consider shutting down all radio stations across-board because some of the radio station platforms have been instrument of dangerous information and broadcast at times.

“Whoever, advised the IGP to keep to this course is doing him a disservice,” he noted, adding there should rather be a way of regulating the excesses than to ban social media in entirety on the election day.

He’s not the only one condemning such thoughts by the IGP, as some CSOs feel this is a kind of repressive tactics being used by the Police- which they say is an affront to the democratic tenets of the 1992 constitution.

However, amidst the huge public outcry on the plan by the IGP, the NDC has lauded the IGP for eliciting the views of Ghanaians to aid the Police service take a final decision on the planned shut down.

“…For now no decision has been taken – and I think we must commend the IGP for opening up the space for discussion. It would have been worse, if its just on the eve of elections that everything was shut down- It would have been more chaotic.

“Lets continue the discussion and that is the position of the NDC as at now, because the national interest is over and above any political party interest, religious or sectarian interest. They are people who are in charge of protecting the national interest in the sovereignty of the nation. And so if at the time, they so decide that in the larger interest they will take that decision what can we do? So for now lets continue the debate. We’ll not take any harsh position against the Police and start calling them names. We all know that there is a down side of social media and there is a history of how social media has been abused in election. And so may be for now it is important that political parties commit ourselves to not abusing social media so that the national security apparatus is not compelled to take that decision.”