The Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has rejected claims that the government is suppressing free speech.

According to him, the rampant arrests that have characterised the Mahama administration are not intended to control people’s speech but rather threats against the life of the president are criminal offences.

Speaking on Channel One TV's “Face to Face” with Umaru Sanda Amadu, the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese MP took a swipe at the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) over their advertised August 6 demonstration, stating "it is clear that they are confused about what they're demonstrating about”. 

"In one breath, it's about the judiciary, in another breath, it is not," he added.

Kwakye Ofosu maintained that no one had been arrested for merely criticising the government.

"Nobody has been picked up for [the exercise of the right to] free speech," he said.

He also pointed to regular criticism of the government by NPP members including its National Organiser, Henry Nana Boakye, alias Nana B saying "there are many NPP people who, on a daily basis, continue to criticize the government, including Nana B himself”. 

He continued: "After this ruling [to acquit and discharge Sedina Tamakloe] they held a press conference to level all manner of baseless accusations against government."

"Who has picked them up?" he asked.

Kwakye Ofosu, however, argued that threatening to kill the president was a criminal matter, citing the recent case of NPP polling station executive Camilla Alhassan, a TikToker from the Awutu Senya West Constituency, who was sentenced to one year in prison after being convicted over threats against President John Mahama and First Lady Lordina Mahama.

"But if you sit on TikTok and threaten the life of a president, you said you'll behead the president, put him in a cocoa sack and attack his wife - you cannot go scot free. If you did that in any of the advanced democracies, they'll hold you," the minister asserted.

He further cited a similar situation in the United States stressing a woman was prosecuted and imprisoned for threats against US President Donald Trump .

Although he did not identify a specific case, his remarks are consistent with that of Rebecca Ann Folley, a Hawaii woman who was sentenced to seven months' imprisonment in February 2026 after pleading guilty to making online threats against Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as threatening to bomb the White House.

"If you threaten someone's life, let alone that of the president, the law will catch up with you," Kwaye Fosu asserted.