The Ghana Police Service has expressed confidence in tackling the phenomenon of spreading fake news on social media before, during, and after the 7 December polls.
There have been concerns from various quarters on the probability of some persons inflaming passions and inciting violence using social media, prompting the Inspector General of Police John Kudalor to, at a point in time, threaten to shut down social media on the day of the election.
But speaking to Class News in an interview, the Director General of Police CID, COP Prosper Agblor, said through the efforts of the Cyber Unit of the Police CID, such fake news items will be checked and perpetrators apprehended.
“As to whether the police are capable of knowing tapes that are doctored and put on social media, we now have a cybercrime unit at the CID headquarters and is manned by somebody who has a PhD in cyber-related issues. They are not doing badly because at least they have investigated few cases and have gained conviction,” he stated.
Meanwhile, government, police and other stakeholders have said social media will not be shut down on the day of elections.
Impact of internet shutdown on economy
Some governments around the world including over a dozen from Africa adopted the tactic of shutting down electronic communications including internet connection for political reasons and to control their citizens online.
According to research conducted by the Brookings Institution, 81 short-term internet shutdowns that occurred in 19 countries between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 cost the global economy at least US$2.4 billion.
Among the countries are Morocco, Republic of Congo, Algeria, Ethiopia, Uganda and Libya. Most of these countries shut down the internet during their elections including Burundi, Egypt, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo and recently The Gambia.
Morocco lost $320 million after disrupting internet for 182 days while Republic of Congo lost $72 million for disrupting internet for 15 days.
Uganda also lost $2 million for disrupting internet for 5 days.
If Ghana goes this way on election day December 7, 2016, its economy will lose about a million dollars.
Bloggers in the country are however educating people on the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) to enable access to online information through an encrypted connection over a less secure network.
