Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has questioned the use of state power to deal with conduct considered offensive, hate speech, insults or comments aimed at causing fear and panic.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, September 19, 2026, Bentil said the state must draw a clear line between objectionable behaviour and acts that constitute crimes.

His comments follow the arrest and remand of senior nursing officer Salomey Awiti Bafoh over her alleged links to UK-based TikTok user Barbara Asantewaa Kodua, popularly known as “Ghana Jollof”.

Bentil stressed that his comments were not in defence of any particular individual but were aimed at highlighting the need to properly distinguish between insults and criminal conduct.

“Look, let's agree that there is a line that if anybody crosses, wherever you are, we will support the system to go after them, and that line should be crime,” he said.

“I’m saying this because I think something is getting missing in this whole conversation. Insults are not crime,” he added.

According to him, while insults may be considered inappropriate or offensive, they should not automatically become a matter for the state security apparatus.

“Insults are objectionable. They are terrible. They are not proper. But we should be careful how we apply the power of the state to deal with things we find objectionable,” he said.

He argued that Ghanaian society has other ways of dealing with insulting behaviour, including social and cultural sanctions.

“The way you deal with insults in culture is to ostracise people, make sure that they are not accepted within a polite community because they are people who are insulting and that kind of thing. But the use of the state system is for crime. And some of these things that you are seeing are not crime,” he said.

Bentil also questioned comments attributed to the CID Director, saying he struggled to identify the specific criminal conduct involved in the matter.

“I have listened to the CID boss, who I have a very soft spot for. Of all the big police people in this country, she is one of the few who have visited us in our office at IMANI, and we have all seen her rise, so it’s a bit difficult for me to hear her say all the things she said, and I was listening to find the crime. I was looking for the crime,” he said.

He said the central issue should be whether a crime had actually been committed, regardless of how offensive the conduct may appear.

“Regardless of how objectionable you find it, they can be vociferous about it. Where is the crime?” he asked.

“The deployment of state security should be towards dealing with crime. We should make a difference between that and insults,” he added.

NA/VPO