Introduction:
During the inauguration of Mr John Dramani Mahama (JDM) on 7th January 2025, at the Black Star Square in Accra, Ghana, a male journalist working for Joy FM, in a commentary, branded President Paul Kagame of Rwanda as a dictator; while, a gentle caution by his female colleague to desist from that statement emboldened him to repeat the phrase with valour and air of self-importance. While freedom of speech/expression is crucial to consolidating democratic governance and socio-economic welfare of a nation and its people; it is equally the case that the right to free speech is exercised reasonably and responsibly within the purview of its boundaries. The reason is that unlike the right to life, genocide and torture, free speech is not absolute and could be restricted in certain respects to achieve national security interests. With that context and background, this post examines briefly free speech through the prism of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), European Human Rights Convention (EHRC) and Ghana’s 1992 Constitution. Also, the post explores Kagame’s reign in resect of Rwanda’s Constitutional provision, particularly Article 101, which granted him the legal and constitutional right to lead the Rwandese; as well as juxtapose his reign with successive Ghanaian political leaderships.
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), ICCPR and Others
Freedom of speech/expression holds critical to the promotion and sustenance of democratic governance by facilitating fundamental enjoyment of human rights and dignity of citizens across nations. Article 19 of UDHR states “everyone has the right to freedom of expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, impart information and ideas through media regardless of frontiers”. Also, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) espouses that “everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information”. Article 10 of the European Human Rights Convention (EHRC) protects the right to hold your own opinion and express them freely without government interferences. “This right enables the people to express their views aloud- for example- through public protests, demonstrations or through public published articles, books, leaflets, television, or radio broadcasting, work of art , the internet and social media.” Lastly, freedom of expression is protected and anchored in Ghana’ 1992 Constitution where Article 21 upholds freedom of expression, speech including press freedom. Furthermore, the United National Assembly (UNGA) in its resolution on 9th April 2014 (A/HRC/RES 25/2), gave its full support to freedom of express, postulating that “freedom of expression and opinion is essential for the enjoyment of other human rights and freedoms and constitutes a fundamental pillar for building a democratic society and strengthening democracy, bearing in mind that all human rights are indivisible, interrelated and independent.” Without turning this post into a lecture on human rights and international law, the above cited provisions constitute the basis for protecting freedom of expression as well as empowering those with the flair and knowledge to write books, publish articles or share opinions on any issue within nation-states and on international fora without a qualification in Journalism or media studies. Similarly, the freedom is extended to bloggers and social media practitioners, including the Joy FM broadcaster alluded to in the above. Rightly so, he enjoys the freedom to share his opinion, impart knowledge and share information with the Ghanaian audience in respect of the protection accorded him under the above cited provisions. This post believes that his characterisation of Mr Paul Kagame as a dictator must have been informed and emboldened by those tenets of free speech. Notwithstanding the protection accorded free speech, loose talk as uttered by the journalist in question has the potential of invoking diplomatic tension between Rwanda and Ghana; and given the nature of the occasion and tenets of international relations, the characterisation of Paul Kagame is nothing short of a loose talk.
Masking Loose Talk as Free Speech
Unlike the right to life and protection against torture, free speech is not absolute and thus can be restricted by governments and state agencies to achieve security, public morality, sanity territorial integrity, including protection of people’s reputation. The reputation of President of Kagame falls within the last ambit of the protected grounds for which free speech could have been instituted. Suffice to caution here that some of the protected grounds are invoked by governments arbitrarily to restrict free speech for expedient political reasons. For example, the arrest of protestors of Democracy Hub and many other such arrests and intimidating threats issued against dissent voices in Ghana by successive governments and in parts of across Africa. Branding Mr Kagame as a dictator on that day, in the opinion of this post, is reckless and mirrors mere hubris calculated to achieve personal parochial interest. What was the justification for calling Kagame a dictator, who has the constitutional mandate to lead the good people of Rwanda. Aren’t we instructed to accept that democracy is by a majority? This post is hereby informing the JOY Fm journalist, that the British government under Rishi Sunak, signed a £700,000 agreement with Rwanda to receive and process refugees/asylum-seekers in 2024. Although the Labour government on resumption of power in September 2024 has since rescinded the agreement; the financial benefits, including good-will enjoyed by Rwanda among the international community, surpasses Ghana’s at all time. One would have thought that the JOY FM Journalist would have focused on the misgovernance of Ghanaians by the NPP government and previous regimes. This is because Rwanda is streets ahead of Ghana socio-economically with its environment, including water-bodes in pristine conditions.
Article 101 of the Rwandan Constitution
According to the library of Congress as reported on December 30, 2015, 98% of Rwandese citizens approved a referendum to amend the country’s constitution to mandate President Paul Kagame, to remain in office for a third seven (7) years beginning in 2017, followed by a two possible five (5) year term. What is the dictatorial element here? Abiding by the tenet that majority decision constitutes democracy, why label Kagame as a dictator? Considering the sordid past history of Rwanda, together with the socio-economic challenges which defined the country against the humble transformative reforms initiated and implemented by Kagame, he should be praised and cited as a benchmark for Ghana to emulate rather than being described as a dictatorship. As an African state with chequered history, Kagame has endeavoured to carry the citizens of Rwanda along to share in his vision for the country by improving their welfare substantially. For example, under his leadership, the country has established the RwandAir which boosts of the following fleet of aircrafts: 1 AirBusA330-330, 2 AirbusA330-200, 6 Boeing 737-800, 2 BombardierQ-400 Nex-Gen, 2 Bombardier CRJ-900 NexGen and 1 Boeing 737-700NG. This post holds the view that Kagame’s modest achievement in the aviation and transport industry mirrors a visionary leader committed to enhancing his people’s welfare and security and nothing of a dictator. Relating Rwanda to Ghana’s current poor socio-economic status, which is riddled with debt, inability to pay its creditors, no single commercial airline, polluted river bodies and slum city-centres and dysfunctional healthcare system, it is only fair that the comment by the JOY FM journalist is condemned as mere hubris, characteristic of a Ghanaian who sees the speck in his neighbour’s eye without recognising the log in his own. That is hypocrisy at its climax.
Final Remarks
Free speech is key to the protection of democratic society and a means of fostering creative citizenry with ideas and good-will to drive national growth and resilience. It is thus important to guard zealously these values by encouraging governments in every state and international community to defend it responsibly. However, the mechanisms of protecting individuals’ reputation as outlined in this post ought to be defended while loose talks masking as free speech must be stymied every day.
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