A Ghanaian pastor has been remanded in police custody after being charged with making death threats against Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang in a video that went viral on TikTok.
The Adenta Circuit Court in Accra on April 8, 2026 remanded William Gyimah, leader of Elohim International Ministry, and ordered him to reappear on April 13, 2026. He was charged with publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm, contrary to Section 208 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and with offences under Section 76 the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) in connection with the video posted online.
Gyimah, 49, was arrested in Kasoa the previous day, April 7, 2026, in what police described as an intelligence-led operation. According to the Ghana Police Service, the video was identified through routine social media monitoring by the Inspector-General’s Cyber Vetting and Enforcement Team, after which the pastor was transferred to the Special Investigations Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department for further enquiries.
The case is the latest in a series of prosecutions arising from threatening content posted on social media in Ghana over the past year. In September 2025, a TikTok personality known online as Kwame Nkrumah the Second, whose legal name is David Kwadwo Prah Afful, was taken into custody after a live broadcast in which he allegedly threatened to kill government officials and civil servants, referring to those who use vehicles bearing official green number plates.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) recognises that threats of violence, whether directed at private citizens or public officials, fall outside the protection afforded by international and constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, and that states have a legitimate interest in addressing them.
At the same time, the use of broadly worded offences such as publication of false news to prosecute online speech remains a long-standing concern in Ghana and across the region, given the history of such provisions being deployed against journalists, activists and ordinary critics of those in power.
The MFWA urges the prosecution to confine the case to the specific threatening content attributed to Gyimah and to ensure that his rights to a fair hearing, legal representation and the presumption of innocence are fully respected.
MFWA further calls on the courts to apply the relevant provisions narrowly and proportionately, in line with Ghana’s constitutional protections and its obligations under regional and international human rights instruments, and reminds social media users that the right to free expression carries with it a responsibility to refrain from incitement and threats of violence.
