Deputy Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Mohammed Adams Sukparu, has expressed concern over the growing use of fake social media accounts to incite violence among factions involved in the protracted Bawku conflict.
His comments follow a deadly shooting in Garu, in the Upper East Region, where four people were killed by unidentified gunmen on Monday, October 20, near the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) office.
According to eyewitnesses, four armed men on two motorcycles stormed the area and opened fire indiscriminately, killing four people on the spot.
The victims included a bystander, an NHIA staff member, a mentally challenged man, and Yahaya Bukari, headmaster of Garu D/A Junior High School, who was shot while trying to usher students into their classrooms after hearing gunfire.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Tuesday, October 21, Mr. Sukparu said many of the recent violent incidents in Bawku and surrounding communities were being fueled by misinformation and inflammatory content spread through fake online accounts.
“These days, social media is also not helping. People create unnecessary tension by just creating pseudo accounts and saying things that are not true. These are things that are fueling it. It used not to be like this in the past,” he said.
He continued:
“Of course, the fight has been there since; in the past, they co-existed — you wouldn’t see it happening like now. I think that social media is also not helping; you will see funny accounts when you go on social media created by people you don’t know.”
“Sometimes I ask myself, who are the people behind these accounts when I read? They say something about an entire tribe which is not true and incite the tribes. Many of the accounts set people up and expose others to danger. That is one of the major challenges we’re facing as far as those conflicts are concerned.”
The Deputy Minister urged security agencies to intensify monitoring of online activity and act swiftly to curb the spread of content that poses a threat to public safety.
“The entire area conversation should be checked. The security should be able to check some of these. The security has a way of tapping into conversations which are security threats, thereby putting on alert such people,” he said.
Mr. Sukparu also called on Parliament to expedite the passage of a new Bill currently under consideration, aimed at sanitising the digital communication space and cracking down on online impersonation and misinformation.
“There’s a Bill at the consultation stage; very soon it will be laid before Parliament, and when it’s passed, all these will be clamped down. It will help matters if the Bill is passed,” he stated.
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