The groups-Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), IMANI Africa, and the Africa Center for International Law & Accountability (ACILA)-express concern over the recent series of arrests and prosecutions of individuals whose statements have been picked up by sections of the media and who allegedly pose some security risk.
In particular, they mentioned the case of Alliance For Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) Executive Director Mensah Thompson, who is currently facing charges for publishing false news about President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's family.
In a joint press statement, the organizations expressed dissatisfaction with the way some individuals are being prosecuted. They said this has stoked fears of a possible return of the age-old criminal defamation law in the country.
"We are deeply concerned about the increasing use of the state's prosecutorial and judicial powers to impose criminal penalties for statements that allegedly falsely injure or damage the reputation of other individuals or a state institution," the statement read in part.
"During the heyday of criminal libel law in the 1990s, the criminal law was applied in precisely the way it is being applied now: to prosecute and punish journalists and public speakers for allegedly false or defamatory statements against certain members of the president's family or associates," the CSOs added.
The CSOs therefore called for the use of the various legal channels and not the wanton abuse of power against the rights of the ordinary Ghanaian.
"Our legal system provides non-criminal or civil avenues for dealing with free speech that violates or infringes on the rights of others. The law offers offending parties the opportunity to avoid even civil liability by retracting the offending publication and apologizing appropriately to the offended or insulted party. A return to criminal prosecution to regulate and punish speech would return us to a bygone authoritarian era when journalists and other public speakers were jailed for politically disagreeable defamation."
Discontinue the case against Mensah Thompson
CDD-Ghana, IMANI Africa and ACILA also called on the Attorney General not to continue with the criminal case against Mensah Thompson.
"We implore the Attorney General to discontinue the prosecution of Mr. Thompson and take steps to prevent all persons acting under his authority from reintroducing the long-discredited and abolished the system of criminal defamation in a different guise."
The civil society organizations, however, admonished the media to "tone down the inflammatory rhetoric that has polluted our public squares and airwaves, refrain from knowingly or recklessly making or publishing false statements, and, to the extent possible, use the right to information and its procedures to obtain information from public authorities."