Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday discussed the possibility of introducing stringent legislation to deal with the menace of leaking secret recordings, revenge porn and its circulation on social media by members of the public.
Revenge porn is the distribution of a private sexual image or video of someone without their consent and with the intention of causing them distress.
Member of Parliament for Subin Constituency, Honourable Eugene Boakye Antwi speaking on the floor of Parliament yesterday quoted article 18 subsection 2 of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana to buttress his point: “Mr Speaker, Article 18 subsection 2 of the 1992 constitution provides and I quote; “no person shall be subjected to interference with the privacy of his home, property, correspondence or communication except in accordance with law and as may be necessary for a free and democratic society for public safety, for the economic well-being of the country, for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others”
Supporting the call for legislation on the menace, Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told his colleague Parliamentarians that “It is important for us in the interest of national security or personal security and promoting communal existence for all members that we should apply article 21 and also look at the provisions contained in article 41 to fashion out the appropriate legislation to combat this emerging menace”.
The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, however, disagreed with the call for legislation. To him, people should just be more careful and avoid such recordings.
“Mr Speaker, the best way to avoid this scandal is self-discipline. Privacy must be respected and protected but I am afraid legislation may not be able to resolve it. We must just ensure conscious use of the mobile phone and stop the continuous abuse of these gadgets”, he said on the floor of Parliament yesterday.
This comes after a video emerged online of a Headmaster and a girl alleged to be his student girlfriend having sex on a KITCHEN STOOL. The video, widely circulated on social media without caution has made the two lovebirds and Kitchen Stools popular. Three persons (all males) have since been declared wanted by the Central Regional Police Command over the “leakage” of the said video.
Following immediately after that was the unfortunate case of a Pastor’s wife who mistakenly sent her nudes meant for her husband abroad, to a church WhatsApp group with the caption “It’s all yours when you return”, as mynewsgh.com earlier reported. The video eventually went viral leading to her attempting suicide.
Speaking to the media outside the chamber of Parliament, MP for Subin Constituency Eugene Boakye Antwi indicated his resolve to pursue the issue further.
“Some of us have taken a position that parliament must legislate. The Laws are probably always there but it’s too loose, let’s begin to tighten it. Let’s have a very rigorous punishment regime so that you know that when you record someone and leak it maybe you can be jailed for up to 18 months or 12 months in jail. That will be a form of deterrence to would-be culprits”, he said.
