Free speech, political arrests and unmatched sacrifice of Kennedy Agyapong

The recent wave of arrests of some members of the New Patriotic Party over comments deemed offensive by the state has once again reopened the troubling conversation about free speech in our democracy.

While many are outraged today, it is important to remind ourselves that no one in the NPP has suffered this kind of political persecution linked to free speech more than Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong.

We must not forget history.

During the NDC government under the late President John Evans Atta Mills, Kennedy Agyapong, in his good thoughts, thought he was speaking and fighting for his beloved party, the NPP. For exercising what he believed was his right to free speech and his duty to defend his party, he was arrested, detained, and shockingly charged with treason, treason felony, and attempted genocide.

Treason!

A charge that could have seen him sentenced to life imprisonment or even death if he had been pronounced guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. He was handcuffed, paraded like a common criminal and kept behind bars, all for speaking.

If there is any man in the NPP who understands the pain, the trauma and the price of an arrest that is linked to free speech, it is Kennedy Agyapong. The man has really suffered for the NPP. He put his life, his business and his freedom on the line for the elephant.

That is why his voice must matter in this debate.

Today, as an opposition party, it is our democratic right and duty to critique and criticize the current NDC government. That is the essence of multiparty democracy. But as we do so, we must be measured in some of our utterances because we are not just doing politics, we are building a country. Ghana is all we have.

Constructive criticism is more powerful and more lasting than insults. Let us criticize policies, not persons. Let us offer alternatives, not just anger.

At the same time, this is a call to the conscience of the nation. I call on the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the National Chief Imam and all Islamic leaders, our revered Traditional Leaders, Civil Society Organizations, the Ghana Bar Association, opinion leaders and all who matter, to intervene when arrests are linked to free speech.

Silence in the face of such intolerance emboldens it.

And to the NDC government, you must be tolerant. You were in opposition yesterday. You criticized freely. You insulted freely. You were tolerated. Today you are in power. Show magnanimity. Show tolerance. Democracy thrives on tolerance of dissenting views, not on the arrest of dissenting voices.

If we criminalize speech today, we destroy the very democracy we all fought to build.

Long live free speech, long live Ghana.