Ransford Edward Van Yaw Gyampo, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, has condemned those criticising state security agencies for arresting people who are overstepping their freedom of speech.
He says the right to freedom of speech under a democratic polity is not a guarantee for people to step beyond their boundaries, stressing that the founders of democracy “encouraged dissent, knowing we cannot all agree.” However, he says having a diverse opinion does not mean one should indulge in insults.
His comments come on the back of recent arrests of some persons whom according to security agencies have used hate speech and insults on others, especially government officials and political opponents, which they say have the propensity to destabilise the peace in the country.
The arrests, notably amongst them being the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Bono Regional Chairman, Kwame Baffoe Agyei, a.k.a. Abronye, and others, which the party has criticised, and described as political intimidation of its members, the NPP say, is a direct attempt to silence them from criticising the government.
Leadership of the NPP on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, petitioned the diplomatic corp on the development, urging them to monitor the country’s human rights situation which they said are being violated.
They have called for persons who feel defamed with comments of others to seek redress at the courts, rather than the arrests which they allege the Government is using to silence dissenting opinions.
In a post on his Facebook page on Saturday, May 23, 2026, the political scientist argued that in as much as democracy has free speech as one of its key tenets, it does not in any way give one the room to trample on the rights of others.
According to him, the “founding fathers of this system of government never even insinuated that freedom of speech is licentious for buffoonery and foolish talk.”
Rather, Prof. Gyampo says these proponents of democracy encouraged “civil, decorous, not divisive, not reckless and not the kind that could palpably tantamount to coup d’etat (which in French means killing the state).”
He highlighted the far-reaching consequences of such acts, which he says must be curbed before they degenerate into something that could potentially thwart the peace and stability in the country.
“Indeed, coup d’etat are not staged with guns alone, some speeches, especially the insulting ones that incite hatred can also amount to coup’ d’etat, killing the state and there are examples across the globe of how speech recklessness has impacted state survival.
“It is therefore nation wrecking for anyone in a democracy to encourage the use of insults, intemperate language and words that threaten the very survival of democracy, and insist that victims affected could simply go to court to institute civil suits.
“Nation building inter alia, dictates that such divisive conducts must not occur at all in the first place. In other words, democracy and free speech is not about encouraging others to be vituperative in their utterances and telling those affected to go to court.
“Those who are well socialized in the dogmas of nation building and democratic practice would insist that insults and the use of the kind of language that plays on the emotional key boards of people, and could plunge the entire society into chaos, should not be used in the first place,” he stated.
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