Mr. Eugene Boakye Antwi, Memebr of Parliament for Subin in the Ashanti region, quoting Article 18 (2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana reminds the nation that “no person shall be subjected to interference with the privacy of his home, property, correspondence or communication, except in accordance with law as may be necessary in a free and democratic society for public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the protection of the rights and freedoms.”
Mr. Antwi Boakye in his statement read on the floor of Parliament which was widely supported by both sides of the House noted that ”with the proliferation of various mobile phones and similar devices, the recording of telephone and other conversations has become the order of the day; and there are even apps which when downloaded on phones allows you to automatically record every phone conversation that the phone is used for.”
“Day in day out, citizens are being subjected to horrible surprises when they wake up to hear their voices being played on air after a private conversations they have had with others, which is supposed to be confidential,” he stated.
The Subin legislator was not happy with the rising cases of sexual and pornographic materials finding their way into the public through social media, thereby defiling the rights of the persons involved.
He cited instance where a man or woman records their sexual episode to blackmail or disgrace a partner because things are not going as expected, was not right. And added that in most cases, the blackmailers do not show their faces in the recordings but shows the victim’s face and private parts for the public to see.
“And Mr. Speaker, some of these matters have led to suicides,” he said.
“Also, some of these recordings are done without the knowledge or consent of the other party, and those that are done with the other party’s consent do not include the consent to disseminate the videos. This is getting out of hand, especially with the social media boom, which allows for easy penetration of the social space, but Mr. Speaker, let ask ourselves how many of these pornographic offenders had been arrested and prosecuted by the law,” he asked.
The Minority Leader and MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, in a contribution said there should be a national position on the matter, as the practice of secret mobile phone recording has assumed unprecedented levels, and more so in the era of terrorism.
Mr. Iddrisu called on the National Media Commission and the National Communications Authority to do more to help arrest the situation, stressing on updating, harmonisation and enforcement of legislation.
He said the phone as an “emergency instrument” of much value in terms of personal, corporate and national emergencies, but however indicated that, it must be used for profitable rather than damaging ends.
Majority Leader and Member for Suame Constituency, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said he was impersonated on Facebook a few days ago and agreed on the need to fashion out appropriate legislation to combat the emerging threat.
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By: Sammy Agyei//Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
