Government partners Telcos, Facebook & Google to stop sharing of Captain Mahama videos

Government has initiated steps stop the illegal circulation of images and videos of the late Captain Maxwell Mahama who was wickedly lynched by residents of Denkyira Obuasi in the Central region.

The gory images and heart wrenching videos have been circulating on social media in the last few days with outright disrespect to the privacy of the family and the late captain.

Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah revealed this in an interview with Accra based Joy Fm where he indicated that some “four URL links have been blocked on Youtube and other social media. However there are a lot of these videos and images and as some are being blocked, new ones are being brought up.

“We are working closely with Google, we are working with Facebook and this is something that we were doing proactively from good governance and out of respect for family rights and from being responsible as a ministry.”

The deputy minister further indicated that a concerted effort is needed in this regard to ensure that the senseless circulation of these videos and images stop.

“The bereaved family would have to also complain to the Data Protection Commission that their rights are being abused and that would reinforce the steps that we have taken and measures that are being implemented so far. “Our immediate priority now is to stop the circulation of these videos and images and that is something that we initiated about two days ago and the process is still ongoing.

As at today we have escalated it to the National Communications Authority (NCA) to engage the Telecom Companies (Telcos) to put in place measure to stop these images being transferred through their data network” he added.

Asked whether there are punitive sanctions for persons who knowingly or unknowingly share these videos, Mr. Andah who is also Member of Parliament for Ewutu Senya West constituency said “there’s this provision in the law that any individual who circulates these images illegally or without the consent of the owner of the image or abuse the rights of individuals can be prosecuted.

So it behooves on all of us, those sharing these images to respect the dead and the feelings of the family and stop the sharing.”