{
  "id": 393384,
  "title": "Prez Mahama govt has arrested more for free speech than Akufo-Addo's eight years - Martin Kpebu",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/09/prez-mahama-govt-has-arrested-more-for-free-speech-than-akufo-addos",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-09T17:19:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "3News",
    "slug": "3news",
    "url": "https://3news.com/politics/kpebu-mahama-govt-has-arrested-more-for-free-speech-than-akufo-addos-eight-years"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Lawyer Martin Kpebu has criticised the government for arresting individuals over comments deemed insulting or offensive to public officials. He claims that in 18 months, the Mahama administration has recorded more such arrests than the previous Akufo-Addo government did in eight years.\n\nAccording to Kpebu, allowing such arrests to continue could gradually erode the goodwill enjoyed by the government. He acknowledged that insulting public officials was inappropriate but argued that arrests were not the solution.\n\nKpebu cited his own experience, recalling that during Akufo-Addo's tenure, he called Akufo-Addo and others 'Akyem sakawa mafia', and was not arrested. He urged the government to reconsider the use of arrests in dealing with offensive public commentary.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
        "title": "Mahama gov’t has arrested more people over free speech in 18 months than Akufo-Addo did in 8 years – Kpebu",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/09/mahama-govt-has-arrested-more-people-over-free-speech-in-18-months",
        "published": "2026-08-09T14:23:50.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}