{"id":237550,"date":"2016-08-08T14:52:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=237550"},"modified":"2016-08-08T14:52:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T14:52:00","slug":"danger-of-possible-social-media-ban-remains-lmvca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=237550","title":{"rendered":"Threat to ban social media remains – LMVCA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pro-opposition pressure group, the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has rekindled the debate about the Police Service\u2019s consideration to block social media on Election Day warning that there could be an \u201celaborate plan\u201d to implement that decision.<\/p>\n

In a statement released by the group, the LMVC said intelligence it had picked up suggests there is \u00a0“an elaborate plan to block social media, jam frequencies of radio stations and interrupt mobile networks on elections day.\u201d<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”WY9tPY5RC0VwAWjq12mtCnAVZdhX5SR9”]The group thus implored Ghanaians to \u201cprotest any such move aimed at repressing freedom of expression and stifling the free flow of vital information during the election period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LMVCA bemoaned the fact the Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor, on two separate occasion \u2013 May 26 and July 19 – threatened to block social media<\/a><\/strong><\/span> on the eve of, and on, Election Day amidst the backlash from civil society and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n

The IGP\u2019s reasoning for a possible ban has been to curb the abuse of social media platforms which he said created unnecessary tension and was a conduit for the spread of false information.<\/p>\n

The LMVCA condemned the abuse of social media to incite fear and violence in their statement but warned that a possible ban would be \u201cdegenerating and backwards to the great strides Ghana has made in the process of democratisation and the entrenchment of civil liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LMVC<\/a>
LMVC Convener, David Asante<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The statement also noted that \u201can outright ban of social media is not the panacea to false reportage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Possible conspiracy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LMVCA \u00a0also introduced a new dimension to the possible social media ban saying that the ban may be geared towards \u201cprotecting the political interests of a particular regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince access to social media is routed through local internet-based communication providers whose activities are regulated and licensed by a government entity, the National Communications Authority (NCA), it is possible to block social media sites,\u201d it explained.<\/p>\n

\"kudalor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have credible intelligence that there were elaborate plans to take advantage of the November 7, 2016 election date to focus the world’s attention on the USA elections and to divert attention from our own elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite parliament voting to maintain December 7, as the Election Day, the LMVC still warned that there still existed \u201ca well-orchestrated plan for a large-scale shutdown of communication networks during the elections. This can only be part of a desperate attempt to stay in power by all means possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahama needs to speak out<\/strong><\/p>\n

With all its fears laid out, the LMVC has implored President John Mahama to publically condemn any proposed social media ban as a matter of urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also call on the President to, as a matter of urgency, make a categorical statement clearly stating that the undemocratic and diabolic act of stifling the flow of information by blocking social media and jamming media houses would not be executed.\u201d<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pro-opposition pressure group, the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has rekindled the debate about the Police Service\u2019s consideration to block social media on Election Day warning that there could be an \u201celaborate plan\u201d to implement that decision. In a statement released by the group, the LMVC said intelligence it had picked up suggests there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":237556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/237556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}