Speak Against Social Media Insults Even If They Favour you - Former Peace Council Chairman tells President, MPs

Former Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, has urged political and national leaders to publicly condemn the growing use of insults and abusive language on social media.

Speaking at an event of the National Peace Council, Prof. Asante lamented the toxic nature of discourse on social media, describing it as a "tit for tat" affair that is pushing wrong values to young people.

"We are talking about what is happening on the social media now. Sometimes I don't want to go to social media because there is too much dirt on the social media," he said.

He called for responsible communication and challenged the leadership of the country, including the President, his ministers, Members of Parliament, members of the opposition, to take a firm stance against abusive discourse.

"We must be responsible about the kinds of things that we promote on the social media and we expect the leadership of the country, the President himself, his ministers, Members of Parliament, members of the opposition, the leaders to speak against these kinds of things and to say even if you are saying this in favour of me, it's not something that I would want to support," he stated.

Prof. Asante expressed worry that it appears as though insulting opponents in support of a particular political party has become a pathway to gaining positions when that party comes to power.

He said Ghanaians, including churches and citizens, must rise up and reject such conduct, insisting it is not part of Ghanaian values.

"It is for us Ghanaians, citizens, churches to get up and say no, this is not our value. Where somebody sits somewhere to insult chiefs of this country, say all sorts of dirty things about them, where a lady sits somewhere and talks about the President and his wife... where people can get up and say whatever they want to say and insult, we were not taught that, that's not our value and the church institution must get up and speak on these issues," he added.