Speaking on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, President Mahama said while he personally is not bothered by insults, Ghana as a country must collectively decide how to regulate new media without trampling on free expression.
"There's a new media called TikTok and it's not only Ghana where people are wondering what to do to regulate TikTok because in all countries all over the world they are wondering what to do to make sure that we have information integrity even with TikTok," President Mahama said.
He decried the nature of the platform where anyone with a phone can publish anything and the algorithm amplifies it.
"Anybody who has a phone just puts it in front of him and just says whatever he likes and once they put it out it has an algorithm that shares it. And as usual, Ghanaians, we also have taken it to a new level," he said.
The President said he is unconcerned about personal attacks on him:
"I don't mind if people show their face and own what they are saying but there are some who are hiding and they just put something there and behind it they say the most vile things. As a leader, I don't mind being insulted. I've been insulted, I was vilified, I was voted out of office. So for me, this skin is a crocodile skin. So if you insult me, I don't mind."
Should the police get involved?
President Mahama said he has often been unaware of the arrests until he sees them in the media, and sometimes the basis for the arrests worries him.
"A lot of these arrests I don't even know about them. I also hear them on the media. Somebody has been tracked and arrested and all that and sometimes it worries me because sometimes the reason for which the person has been arrested, really, I mean they say he's insulted me and you look at the insult and it can't be quoted for the person to be arrested," he said.
He proposed a national dialogue instead of leaving it solely to the police.
"I can tell the IGP, we can go to cabinet and say lay off, let anybody insult anybody, let's leave it free for all, don't arrest anybody for anything they say. We can do that but is that what we want? And so I said what we should do is, Ghana Journalists Association, you saw the letter from my executive secretary, Media Foundation for West Africa, bring all the stakeholders together and hold a workshop or a forum and let's all collectively take a decision on what we want to do with the new media. Should the police get involved or they shouldn't get involved? How do we regulate it?"
He warned that once arrests begin, it is difficult to know where to stop, and drew a comparison with other democracies:
"If you take a TikTok and threaten Trump and say that you are coming after him and you are planning to come to the White House and assassinate him, you think you will not be swept off your feet? But in Ghana you can say it and when you arrest somebody they say oh no, you are trampling on free expression."
Background
President Mahama's comments come against the backdrop of a series of arrests in August and September 2025 that have sparked debate about free speech.
On August 6, two women - Priscilla Duah Birago, 29, a National Service person, and Charity Dede Tetteh, 29, a beautician - were arrested after a TikTok live where they said they "would have been happier if President Mahama was involved in the helicopter crash and dwarfs had eaten him up." The crash on August 6 killed eight people including Defence Minister Dr Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Murtala Mohammed. The women were charged with offensive conduct and conspiracy, and later granted GHΒ’100,000 bail each.
On August 12, the police arrested two TikTokers, Prince Ofori, known as Fante Comedy, and Yayra Abiwu, known as Akosua Jollof, for a live stream in which they mocked the crash victims and threatened to kill President Mahama and First Lady Lordina Mahama.
On September 13, David Kwadwo Prah Afful, popularly known as Kwame Nkrumah II, was arrested near Kasoa and subsequently jailed for seven months after pleading guilty to threatening to kill the President, MPs and government officials with a gun or cutlass and threatening to burn markets.
The police have maintained that while they uphold freedom of speech, they will not tolerate statements that incite violence, insecurity or public disorder.
Civil society groups, including the Media Foundation for West Africa, have said while the laws used - Section 207 of the Criminal Offences Act on offensive conduct - are legal, they are disproportionate for handling speech offences.
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