IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND INFORMATION ABSOLUTE IN GHANA

Right is a justified claim or entitlement, or the freedom to do something
• You’re within your rights to complain.
• a declaration of the rights of civilized people

Freedom, according to the Black Law Dictionary, defines freedom as 0the power of the will to follow the dictates if it’s unrestricted choice and to direct the individual without restraint, coercion or control from other persons. Another connotation of freedom is Liberty.

Liberty has two sides. The positive concept connotes a generalized body of rights, such as the right to economic opportunity and education, and the negative side denotes the necessary restraint on all which is needed to promote the greatest possible amount of liberty for each. It is also noticed by government as restraint in the positive sense of restraint that the state in the exercise of its police powers promotes the freedom for all.

Speech is a learned system of communication requiring the coordinated use of voice, articulation, and language skills, it is also the right to offer words or sound and directed at other persons or the whole and regardless of the medium used. This may include opinion or facts. In law, it is uncontrolled by censorship or restrictions of government.

Freedom of speech and expression is the legal expression which includes all the freedoms which is normally spelt out in a document. Example: A constitution, an Act of parliament, common Law of equity.

Freedom of expression, despite its primacy, can never be absolute. In times of war or similar crisis, some publication may threaten even the survival of the nation. Freedom of speech goes with responsibility. For example in Ghana recently, when in a media house, a panelist made a comment about a past head of state, responsible for causing a fire outbreak in his apartment. Immediately, the gentleman was asked to redraw the statement and was held responsible for such as expression. In this case though he had the right to express himself, he had no prove for whether or not the pas head of state really knew about the cause of the fire.
Defamatory publication may unfairly invade the interest in reputation. Impugning the integrity of a court by publishing evidence in advance of trial may endanger the administration of justice. Obscenity may conflict with the interest in public morality.
The position of the law of freedom of expression and speech today can be recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in the International Human Rights Law in the International covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today, the law of freedom of expression and speech is seen as a multi-faceted right that includes not only the right to express, or disseminate information and ideas but also the right to seek information, the right to receive information and ideas and the right to impart information.

In Ghana, we ask whether right are absolute. Chapter five of the constitution clearly shows that rights are not absolute in Ghana. Under the constitution, rights are limited by the following: community or public interest, treatment quarantine needs, prevention of crime, judicial intervention, economic considerations, national security, public safety, defense, public order, safety, public morality or public health, duties of a citizen defense of the constitution, defamation (libel and slander).
The rights of a journalist includes: freedom of thought and conscience, the right to criticize, to expose wrong-doing by public officials and generally to act as public watchdogs, the right to adequate remuneration, leisure and social security, the right to refuse to give evidence and to protect the sources of his information subjects of course to appropriate safeguards to take account of public interest requirements, the right to serve as gatekeepers.
In as much as we have the rights of a journalist, he also has duties in reference to Article 41, which says:
• to promote the prestige and good name of Ghana and respect the symbols of the nation.
• To uphold and defend this constitution and the law
• To foster national unity and live in harmony with others.
• To work conscientiously in his lawfully chosen occupation.
• To protect and preserve public property and expose and combat misuse and waste of public funds and property.
The protection of rights is generally found in Clause 5 of Article 33 of the constitution that is the protection of rights generally by the courts in the nature of certiorari, habeas corpus, mandamus prohibition, quo warranto.
In conclusion, freedom of speech is not absolute in Ghana. It is granted by the constitution but subject to certain limitations.