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Police to deal with people who use electronic means to spread doom prophecies
Doom prophecies have become a ritual for 31st December night services
As the year grinds to a halt and as Ghanaians prepare to welcome the New Year, the Ghana Police Service has sent out a strong notice to religious leaders who will seek to throw the country into a state of fear and panic through their doom prophecies.
The Service has also stated that it will go after any such leaders whose prophecies will cause harm, danger, and the death of any individual or group without any tangible truths to those prophecies.
Not leaving out anyone who further gives such prophecies publicity, the police said the same fate will befall anyone who publishes such information or shares same via electronic means, especially where the said communication has the potential to cause fear and alarm to the public or endanger lives.
“We want to caution that under Ghanaian law, it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumour or report is true.”
“It is also a crime for a person, by means of electronic communications service, to knowingly send a communication that is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life-saving service or to endanger the safety of any person,” a statement Ghana Police Service said.
These prophecies, which have become an annual ritual during end-of-year all-night church services in the country, have given room for many concerns since they usually cause a lot of fear.
It will be recalled that the Ghana Police Service, led by the Inspector General of Police, hinted that they are not against prophecies, re-emphasizing the public’s right to religion, their freedom to worship and free speech.
However, the law enforcement agency has stated that such rights should not undermine the laws of this country or unnecessarily infringe on other people’s rights to live.
“It is also a crime for a person, by means of electronic communications service, to knowingly send a communication that is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life saving service or to endanger the safety of any person.
“A person found guilty under these laws could be liable to a term of imprisonment of up to five years,” the statement added.
It is now expected that, with these directives from the police administration, that there will be a reduction in the number of doom prophecies that will come out of this year’s December 31 all-night services.
