Director of Legal Affairs for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has rejected claims by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that President Mahama is against free speech in the country.
“President Mahama does not have a habit of detaining his critics,” he said on the KeyPoints show on TV3 Saturday, May 23, 2026.
He was commenting on the recent arrests of some people who made remarks on social and mainstream media which state security agencies deemed as hate speech and insults, and which had the potential to destabilise 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.
Appearing on the KeyPoints show on Saturday, a member of the NPP and Spokesperson for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the party’s flagbearer, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, indicated that best way to describe the development is that the President is gagging people.
“This government, this President has gone against free speech. There is no other way of putting it. In fact, it’s a presidential policy. The man said that he is even going to use our IPs to identify us. When you want to control my speech it’s not free,” he stated, explaining that “free speech and hate speech are not the same.”
Reacting to the comments, Mr. Tameklo, who is also the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), rejected the assertion, indicating the President is a true democrat who respects dissenting opinions.
“On this platform are two of the harshest critics of President Mahama. For the past one year [and] several months, one of the staunchest critics of President Mahama is Miracles [Aboagye]. He is punchy, he speaks his mind, nobody, has ever, invited him to any police station whatsoever,” he stated.
The NDC’s lawyer further added that “Kofi Bentil has criticised his (President Mahama) administration in any form including his appointees. Nobody, I repeat, has invited him. So President Mahama, is not and does not have the habit of detaining his critics,” he clarified.
