General News of Tuesday, 6 September 2016Source: thefinderonline.comYour words can bite you badly – Ace Ankomah warnsAce AnkomahPrivate legal practitioner, Ace Anan Ankomah has warned that a number of prohibitive laws in the country’s statute books that many Ghanaians do not pay attention to prescribe severe punishment for reckless speech and rude behaviour. “When we discarded the criminal libel regime, many shouted uhuru, but it wasn’t uhuru yet, because words can still bite the utterer of the word. “If you assemble to beat, play or dance to drums, gong gong, tomtom, or other musical instruments without written permission of district assembly, you could be tried and sentenced. Speaking at the event, veteran journalist, Ms Elizabeth Ohene observed that there are prohibitive laws – laws that can make people feel like they have been constricted – but the truth of the matter is that journalists always find a way out. “Hate speech, threats of killing somebody or raping somebody do not constitute freedom of speech; they do not; they cannot constitute freedom of speech.

Source: GhanaWeb September 06, 2016 16:07 UTC