William Nlanjerbor Jalulah, Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has identified social media as one of the platforms used to fuel conflict in the Bawku area.
Mr. Jalulah told Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show that some social media sites had been put up by unknown people. These social media pages have been attributed to either faction of the conflict and have been noted to publish materials liable to inflame passion and fuel the long-running chieftaincy conflict.
The Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service has thus been tasked with investigating, apprehending, and punishing the moderators of these pages as a means to help bring peace to the area.
“Because of the changing nature of social media, I think we have a gap in regulating it in Ghana. You have people who can create social media handles, especially on Facebook, and put very disturbing content there, and we are not having our security agencies arrest them. I know the Ghana Police Service, for instance, has a Cyber Crime Unit led by a very intelligent police officer, but my question is, what has the Unit done?”
“Let me use the Bawku situation as a clear case. We have seen so many social media groups purporting to be speaking for or in favour of either side of the feuding parties. They post very disturbing pictures and information. These things are fueling the conflict,” Mr. Jalulah said, highlighting the dangers of misinformation and disinformation.
According to the Upper East Regional Chairman of the GJA, some preliminary research into such pages indicates that the moderators may not even be residents within the country.
“My checks have shown that the person behind some of this is not even in Ghana. The person is outside Ghana, has created that page, and has a following. If you see the content on the Facebook page, you will be surprised. Someone sits outside the country and is fueling the Bawku conflict through social media. Then you ask yourself, what is the Cyber Crime Unit doing?”
“Even if you are not able to get such people arrested, at least have the systems shut down so that they cannot spread the kind of information that they spread,” he said.
The Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association reminded journalists within the region of their mandate to ensure that all materials they publish have been duly verified.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
