The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to grant a presidential pardon to TikToker Camilla Alhassan, who was sentenced to one year in prison for publishing false information about the President.
In a Facebook post, Mr Braimah said he hoped President Mahama would extend the same mercy he showed the Montie Three to Camilla Alhassan.
“May the kind and gentle heart of President Mahama that visited mercy on the Montie Trio shower a similar mercy of a Presidential Pardon for Camilla. And may she come out to be an apostle of truth, not lies,” he wrote.
Mr Braimah said he was not defending the publication of falsehoods, stressing that anyone who deliberately spreads false information to defame or mislead others should be held accountable.
However, he questioned whether a prison sentence was the best way to tackle the growing problem of misinformation, arguing that imprisonment alone would not address the root causes of false publications.
According to him, misinformation, insults and political propaganda have become widespread in Ghana, particularly on social media, and the problem goes beyond a single individual.
He called for a national conversation on responsible public communication and urged political leaders to discourage supporters from spreading falsehoods. He also advocated stronger civic and media literacy to help citizens identify misinformation before sharing it.
Mr Braimah further urged political parties to stop rewarding individuals who deliberately spread false information and called for greater use of civil remedies, including apologies, corrections and compensation, in cases of defamation.
He said Ghana should focus on building a culture that values truthfulness instead of relying mainly on imprisonment to combat misinformation.
Camilla Alhassan was sentenced by an Accra Circuit Court after pleading guilty to charges of offensive conduct and publishing false news. She admitted posting TikTok videos falsely claiming that President Mahama had sacrificed 32 cows in a ritual to secure political power.
This version is more in line with the style of Ghanaian newspapers, with the pardon appeal as the news peg and the broader arguments presented afterward.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Ebenezer Madugu