I won't allow intelligence agencies to pursue citizens over insults – Dr Bawumia

Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has said intelligence agencies under his leadership will not be used to pursue citizens for insulting the President or other public officials.

He made the statement while expressing concern over the reported arrest and remand of Techiman-based nurse and mother of three, Salomey Bafor Awiti, in connection with an alleged case involving the publication of false news.

Dr Bawumia described the reported circumstances of the arrest as worrying, particularly claims that the nurse was picked up in the middle of the night by national intelligence officers and subsequently remanded for two weeks.

“This is not the Ghana we want to build. I can assure Ghanaians that when given the opportunity, our intelligence agencies will not be reduced to chasing citizens for insulting the President or anyone else,” he said in a Facebook post on Friday, September 18, 2026.

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He said although he had consistently opposed insults in political discourse, the protection of free speech remained essential to Ghana’s democracy.

“I have always disavowed a politics of insults and will remind all in the political space of the need to be decorous. The ideas we need to transform our nation won’t come from insults,” he stated.

He, however, argued that any infringement on citizens’ right to free speech could undermine democratic principles, describing freedom of expression as a foundation of democracy.

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