Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has weighed in on the growing use of insults, threats and hate speech on Ghana’s national discourse.
Speaker Bagbin stressed that the use of insults, threats and hate speech has become more worrying with the increasing use of social media and other digital platforms as major avenues for public discussion.
According to Speaker Bagbin, freedom of expression does not justify insults.
Alban Bagbin noted that social media had played an important role in expanding Ghana’s democratic space by allowing more citizens to participate in national affairs.
Speaking during Parliament’s emergency sitting on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Bagbin stated, “The expansion of social media, or should I say new media and other digital platforms, has undoubtedly enlarged the democratic space. It has given citizens unprecedented opportunities to participate in national conversations, express opinions, criticise public officials, expose wrongdoing and demand accountability. These are gains which must be protected”.
Bagbin stressed that freedom of speech and expression, as well as freedom of the press and other media, are protected under Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
He, however, cautioned that the exercise of these freedoms should not come at the expense of the quality of public debate.
“But freedom of expression does not require the degradation of our public discourse. Increasingly, disagreement is expressed not through reasoned arguments but through insults,” Bagbin stated.
Speaker Bagbin further called on lawmakers and the public to pay greater attention to how national issues are discussed.
He stressed on the need to protect democratic freedoms while promoting civility and respect in public conversations.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama has stressed that he believes Ghana needs a broader conversation on how TikTok and other new media platforms should be regulated.
He disclosed that the government could simply instruct the police not to arrest people over anything they say, but questioned whether that would reflect the position Ghanaians wanted to adopt.
Speaking at a town hall meeting with the Ghanaian community in New York on Friday, September 25, President Mahama stated, “There is a new term that I call information integrity. The media has become democratised. Anybody with a mobile phone can disseminate information. There is a new medium called TikTok. And it’s not only Ghana where people are wondering what to do to regulate TikTok. Because in all countries all over the world, we are wondering what to do to make sure that we have information integrity even with TikTok”.
“Anybody who has a phone just puts it in front of him and just says whatever he likes. Once they put it out, it has an algorithm that shares it,” he said.
He added, “As a leader, I don’t mind being insulted. I have been insulted, I was vilified, and I was voted out of office, so for me, this skin is a crocodile skin. So if you insult me, I don’t mind. You insult me, I don’t mind, and indeed, I am doing what I can for my country and my continent. I am doing what I can for Ghana and Africa’.
“Definitely, a lot of these arrests, I don’t even know about them. I also hear about them in the media. Some of them have been tracked and arrested and all that. And sometimes, it worries me, because sometimes the reason for which the person has been arrested, really, they say, is because he insulted me,” he said.
Mahama said the challenge was determining where legitimate freedom of expression ended and conduct that required intervention, saying, “I can tell the IGP, we can go to Cabinet and say, let anybody insult anybody. Let’s leave it free for all. Don’t arrest anybody for anything they say. We can do that. But is that what we want?”
“So, let’s all decide what we want to do. So, that we either find a way of regulating it or we say, when it comes to free expression, anybody can say whatever he wants,” he said.
He further disclosed that the question of regulating new media should not be determined by government alone.
Mahama added, “What we should do is for the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to bring all the stakeholders together and hold a workshop or a forum.
“Let’s all collectively take a decision on what we want to do with the new media. Should the police get involved, or shouldn’t they get involved? How do we regulate it? You come out and tell us,” he said.
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