I am not an expert in Ghana Law, nor can I even say I am an expert in any law—I am still learning, as all law scholars and lawyers will do for the rest of their lives. A lawyer or legal scholar never stops learning the always changing law…
Yesterday, I was approached by a radio station in Ghana to talk about the legal implications or consequences of the making of sex tapes (hereafter seks tape) and whether it is wrong (morally and legally) on the part of those who leak these videos—and those who circulate them around, you and I.
Interestingly, taking up the challenge to go ahead with the talk taught me something new but important about Ghana’s Laws in relation to obscene materials, which includes seks tapes and images.
According to Sections 280 and 281 of the Criminal Offences Act, the making/production “for the public”, possession and distribution of obscene materials such as seks tapes, indecent images and videos amount to a criminal offence—to be precise, a misdemeanour.
This means that, engaging in the production/making/recording of such videos in itself with intention to let it go out there is a crime, that is if you are found or the material is seen by the law enforcement agencies.
And the crime does not end there, for those of us who have made ourselves the collectors of seks tapes or images, having them on your phone or computer in Ghana is also a crime—you can be arrested for that.
The moment we published an article on the alleged Hannah Tetteh’s son circulating seks tape, many people jumped from their beds, asking around for the video—mostly, to feed their inquisitive personalities.
What I did not know at the time and probably most of you do not still know is that, if you are within Ghana’s jurisdiction and you are caught circulating or in possession of any obscene material, you are in violation of the Criminal Offences Act—and the police can come after you.