Private legal practitioner Martin Luther Kpebu has criticised the Akufo-Addo administration for allegedly presiding over a “culture of silence” in Ghana, during his tenure.
He has cited Ghana’s poor World Press Freedom rankings as evidence, with 2018 being a notable exception when the country topped the African rankings.
He avers that the fact that it took someone like Dr. Samuel Essuon Jonah, Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, to intervene at a point shows how bad the situation was.
In a telephone interview on TV3 on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, Mr. Kpebu said “the matter speaks for itself” when asked if the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration ran a culture of silence.
“It’s the NPP that has to come and explain. It was obvious that we were living in a culture of silence and you remember even Sam Jonah had to come in. When the culture of silence was getting to its peak, Sam Jonah had to come in it erupted another round of discussions and debates. He delivered a speech and says he sees the return of the culture of silence. And generally, a lot of people spoke up,” he explained, during the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show.
He explained that Akufo-Addo’s record, compared to his predecessors, was nothing to write home about, but for the 2018 ranking where the globe celebrated the day in Ghana.
“So there was a culture of silence, and if you want to be scientific, earlier, as far as I can remember, for the 8 years Akufo-Addo was in government, it’s only one year that he did well compared to the previous J.E.A. Mills and John Mahama administration.
“For the 8 years, his best year was 2018, when we celebrated World Press Freedom Day in Ghana. We were number one in Africa for that year, and that was it,” he maintained.
The renowned legal practitioner, however, refuted the assertion that the erstwhile administration cannot be accused of stifling press freedom and instilling a culture of silence, since persons like himself freely criticised the then administration at all times.
He explained that it took persons like himself, with some extraordinary courage, to criticise, leaving the average person without such guts, a situation he believes is not a tenet of a free speech polity.
“The spirits are different. When I say the spirits are different, I’m a man of courage, extra courage. But the average man didn’t find that space. It took people with extraordinary courage, and that’s not freedom of speech. There was a culture of silence. It’s when the average man can speak, then you can say yes, there is freedom of speech,” he explained.
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