Dennis Miracles Aboagye, a member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said insults directed at government appointees and others in the country are not crimes.
He says comments such as wishing death on people shouldn’t be adjudged as crimes; but rather, those who feel slighted can seek redress in the law courts rather than having people arrested by the police.
His comments stem from 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 bemoaned, and described as political intimidation of its members, it says, 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.
Speaking on the development on the KeyPoints on TV3 on Saturday, May 23, 2026, Miracles Aboagye noted that insulting someone does not warrant an arrest and detention by the police since it is not a crime.
“The point is, if I insult you, is it a crime? If I say ‘you, the judge, you’re political’, there is no crime,” he noted, adding that “I’m not supposed to be in jail for even 30 minutes,” for making such comments.
He noted that if he (Miracles Aboagye) insults someone, “I’m supposed to be sued by you.”
The Spokesperson for the flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, continued that “if somebody says that the gods should kill the President, it is not a crime, or I wish that Edudzi (a colleague panelist on the show) is dead, it is not a crime.”
He admonished such persons to go to court if they feel offended by such comments.
“If Edudzi even for whatever reason feels slighted, it is not up to the Ghana Police to go and bangle the person and put in jail. It is up to Edudzi to come and seek redress and deal with the matter with you,” he stated.
