Renowned Ghanaian blogger Jeffrey Epprim Nyame has been given a 30-day jail sentence by an Accra Circuit Court for spreading false information that caused panic among the populace.
Mr. Isaac Addo, the court’s presider, found Nyame guilty of disseminating false information that prompted panic withdrawals from bank accounts, upsetting financial institutions.
The indictment against Nyame, who has been on trial since last year, is that in October 2022, he posted a fraudulent report on his news portal, reportghana.net.
The article made up the bogus assertion that owners of dollar accounts would have to withdraw cedis at Bank of Ghana (BoG) rates.
This fake claim immediately propagated on social media and other WhatsApp platforms, inciting panic and terror among readers.
Nyame’s legal issues started in late 2022 when he and Egyabeng were taken into custody after the police looked into a report that the Bank of Ghana had published.
The court cleared and dismissed Jeremiah Kobina Egyabeng, an IT specialist who was charged with aiding and abetting Nyame. Nyame reportedly used a news portal that Egyabeng designed and oversaw for his publications.
After an investigation, the authorities filed a lawsuit after learning that the news that Nyame had published had not only created widespread fear but had also had real economic repercussions.
The court’s ruling has generated a lot of debate; some see it as an essential step in stopping the spread of false information, while others worry that it could restrict free expression.
