Popular Ghanaian blogger sentenced to prison for publishing fake ‘be the first to know news’ which caused fear & panic
Well-known Ghanaian blogger Jeffrey Epprim Nyame received a 30-day prison sentence for disseminating fake information.
The blogger, who is already convicted, was accused of publishing fraudulent information and has been on trial since last year. Mr. Isaac Addo, the judge of an Accra Circuit Court, convicted him of the crime and sentenced him to prison.
Despite being charged with assisting and abetting, Jeremiah Kobina Egyabeng, an IT professional, was cleared and discharged by the court.
In an effort to win Nyame’s pardon, attorney John Baptist Ayitse, who was serving as a friend of the court, contended that the blogger was still young and had learnt important lessons from his actions and the ensuing fallout. By promising not to commit the same crime again, the guilty person backed the request for mercy.
Judge Isaac Addo was unmoved by the accused’s and John Baptist Ayitse’s fervent cries for mercy, though. Rather than giving Nyame the proposed non-custodial sentence, he insisted on giving her a prison one.
The judge expressed serious concern about the unfettered publication of false news on social media, resulting from a hasty desire to be the first to publish information without verifying its veracity and accuracy. Isaac Addo emphasised the need to “crack the whip” to serve as a deterrent to others who abuse social media to spread misinformation, which creates fear and panic.
The prosecution team, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Seth Frimpong, told the court that Nyame published the false news on his news portal, reportghana.net, on 27th October 2022.
The prosecution claims that the article with the caption, “Dollar account holders to get cedi at BoG rate for bank withdrawal effective October 31st?” spread across several WhatsApp platforms and incited panic among the general population. It said that bank customers were forced to make frantic withdrawals as a result of the erroneous information, which put financial institutions in a challenging position.
