The National Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticised the arrest and detention of two TikTok personalities, including Fante Comedy and AY, as well as social media activist Sir-Obama Pokuase, describing the move as a waste of police resources and an attack on free speech.
In a statement signed by National Youth Organiser Salam Mustapha, the group expressed “shock” at what it described as the Ghana Police Service’s decision to target young people “who, out of exuberance, made comments deemed unsuitable for the moment.”
According to the statement, while the activists acknowledge the national grief currently gripping the country, their remarks, however, “unsavoury”, were opinions protected under Ghana’s constitutional guarantee of free speech.
The Youth Wing accused the police of applying partisan bias in their operations, claiming that similar or worse comments from National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters have been tolerated in the past. It further questioned what it called the “intolerance” towards NPP-affiliated individuals.
Citing an incident on July 11 in which NPP members, including MP Hawa Koomson, were allegedly attacked during the Ablekuma North Constituency rerun, the statement criticised the police for failing to arrest the alleged perpetrators while moving swiftly to detain “harmless youth for just a social media conversation.”
The statement concluded with a call for the “unconditional and immediate” release of the three individuals.
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