The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has expressed concerns about the jailing of TikToker Camilla Alhassan, urging President John Dramani Mahama to grant her a presidential pardon.
Although Mr Braimah says he does not condone the publication of false news, he argues that the problem of misinformation and disinformation did not begin with Camilla Alhassan.
Camilla Alhassan was sentenced to one year in prison after she pleaded guilty to charges of offensive conduct and the publication of false news.
The widely circulated videos led to her arrest and prosecution by the Ghana Police Service. Before sentencing, the court had ordered a pregnancy test during an earlier hearing.
Camilla Alhassan admitted to publishing videos falsely claiming, without evidence, that President John Dramani Mahama buried 32 cows as part of rituals to win the 2024 general election.
Speaking after the ruling, her lawyer, Kwadwo Gyamfi Bonsu, said the court struck out the charge of electronic abuse, holding that it did not have the legal authority to determine that offence.
However, the court convicted Camilla on the count of offensive conduct and imposed a one-year custodial sentence.
Reacting to the development in a statement on his Facebook page, Mr Braimah said:
“The reported one-year prison sentence handed to TikToker, Camilla Alhassan, for publishing false information about President Mahama should concern all of us. I say this not because falsehood should be tolerated, but because we must be careful about how we choose to confront what has become a global epidemic of misinformation and disinformation.
Let me be clear from the outset: I do not support the deliberate publication of falsehoods intended to defame, mislead or damage the reputation of others. Lies can destroy reputations, poison public discourse, incite hatred and undermine democracy. Anyone who knowingly spreads false information should be held accountable.
But accountability and imprisonment are not always the same thing.”
Mr Braimah argued that jailing individuals would not solve the deeper societal problem of misinformation and called for a national conversation on responsible public communication, civic education and stronger civil remedies instead of primarily relying on criminal punishment.
He concluded by appealing to President Mahama to extend mercy to Camilla Alhassan, similar to the pardon granted to the Montie Trio, hoping she would become “an apostle of truth, not lies.”
