The Executive Director of the African Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), Mr. William Nyarko, has renewed calls for the abolition of laws criminalizing “false publication,” describing them as a major threat to press freedom and democratic accountability in Ghana.
Speaking amid growing concern over the chilling effect these laws have on journalists, media practitioners, and citizens, Mr. Nyarko warned that the fear of arrest, prosecution, or intimidation discourages investigative reporting and undermines the media’s role as a watchdog of society.
While acknowledging that misinformation is a legitimate concern, Mr. Nyarko argued that criminal sanctions are excessive and often prevent the media from freely expressing their views. “Criminalizing the publication of false news is incompatible with modern democratic principles,” he said.
His comments came after a two-day engagement with media practitioners in Cape Coast on March 17–18, 2026, hosted by CDD-Ghana, focused on a rights-based approach to journalism. In an interview with Sompa TV’s Eric Annan, Mr. Nyarko urged the government to align national laws with international standards on freedom of expression, noting that many democratic countries have replaced criminal defamation and false publication provisions with civil remedies.
Repealing such laws, he said, would strengthen Ghana’s reputation as a beacon of democracy and press freedom in Africa, while retaining outdated provisions could erode these hard-won gains.
Mr. Nyarko also highlighted the colonial origins of the “false publication” law, inherited from British rule, which has since been abolished in the United Kingdom. He recalled that although Ghana repealed the criminal libel law in 2000 under former President John Agyekum Kufuor, the false publication law remained, despite calls for it to be abolished alongside criminal libel. “The time to repeal this law is long overdue,” he emphasized.