Kofi Bentil, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, has said it is not the government’s business to control people’s consumption of porn, warning that the proposal.
It will be recalled that Sam George, who has revealed that the Ministry is working on a proposal that would require photo ID verification before accessing porn websites.
According to Sam George, the proposal is intended to prevent children from being exposed to explicit online content.
He disclosed that the policy is currently being prepared for Cabinet consideration.
Sam George added that the policy will require users to provide either a driver’s licence or a national identification card before gaining access to adult or porn websites.
He disclosed that the United Kingdom’s age-verification regime for adult websites as a model Ghana could adopt to strengthen child protection measures.
Speaking at the 4th Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Values and Sovereignty, Sam George stated, “We’re working on going to Cabinet on that to make sure that before you access any X-rated site, you must put either your driver’s licence or your national ID card so that we know who you are and who is going to that site to prevent children from being exposed to such content”.
“Today in the United Kingdom, for you to access a pornographic website, you need to put your driver’s licence for them to be able to determine that you are 18 years”, he stated.
“This is the real threat. Because when a child is oversexualised at an early age, it affects their development, it affects their thinking, it affects even their morality and their values and their standards,” he said.
“When my colleagues and I in Ghana introduced the Family Values Bill, one of our key arguments has been that we’re fighting for the innocence of Ghanaian children because our children must be protected,” he said.
Reacting to the development, Kofi Bentil has criticised the government’s proposed mandatory identity verification system for access to pornographic websites.
Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, Kofi Bentil stated, “I am not saying we should do nothing. I am saying it is not the government’s role, in terms of the ID cards, to control people’s consumption of porn”.
“For me, the worst part of this porn thing is what I call peer-to-peer pornography. What you are seeing on Snapchat and people sending things to people,” he said.
“This concept of a morality police, human beings have tended to want to do that, and it’s always failed,” he stated.
“You have to raise your children and make sure that they have the kind of morals that make them not want to do certain things,” he said.
Kofi Bentil argued that existing laws already place age restrictions on certain activities.
He urged authorities to focus on tackling online fraud and other cyber-enabled crimes, adding that Ghana is now one of the capitals of international romance fraud.
Kofi Bentil cautioned, “They’re going to create a whole new bureaucracy which will become the basis for oppressing and trapping all kinds of people, and you’ll be surprised what it will be used for”.
He further claimed the proposal may be part of broader efforts by the Mahama government to project a moral image.
“I think this government is trying to signal that they want to own a moral high ground. They tried it with the LGBT thing, and they woefully messed it up,” he said.
Meanwhile, Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Sam George, has reiterated his proposal for ID verification for porn sites.
According to Sam George, the proposed measure is not intended to monitor, track or publicly expose individuals who visit adult websites.
He disclosed that the proposal is to protect and safeguard children from harmful online content.
Sam George disclosed that the policy would require individuals to present a National Identity Card or Driver’s Licence before accessing pornographic websites in Ghana.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, June 6, Sam George explained that the government’s primary concern is the growing ease with which minors are able to access explicit content on the internet.
He noted that authorities have received numerous complaints from parents who are increasingly worried about the impact of unrestricted online content on children.
“If you sit where we sit and you see and get the complaints that we get from parents. One of the things that broke my heart was a mother who came broken. Her seven-year-old son was addicted to pornography, and he found a pornographic site. He was watching a children’s cartoon on YouTube, and an advert appeared. He wanted to skip it, and it took him to the site, and he watched it and got addicted.
“And so we want to introduce protection for our children, and so we have not said we are going to publish the list of persons visiting porn sites. What we are introducing is not new. The US and UK need verification to access X-rated sites.”
Watch the video below:
"All I am saying is that, it is not government's business to try and use ID cards to control people's consumption of porn"
— Joy 99.7 FM (@Joy997FM) June 6, 2026
– Kofi Bentil on the ID for porn direction. #Newsfile pic.twitter.com/UZq2xQa9fZ
