Do You Know You Can Be Arrested for Possession & Sharing the Sex Videos of Hannah Tetteh’s Alleged Son & the Others Circulating Around Under Ghana Law?

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.

I believe it will even be worse if those in these videos or photos are under the age of 18, classified as children per the 1998 Children Act, then you are walking into a room with a serious crime of child p*rnograhy hovering over your head.

In the jurisdiction where I live and where others live (most western countries), making, possession and distribution of most adult obscene materials do not amount to a CRIME—in fact, it is part of Free Speech, a constitutional right.

What this means is that, I can sit in my room and watch these adult tapes or make them or send some to my friends within certain jurisdictions and not commit any crime. If the police out here takes my phone and finds any obscene materials on there (provided they are not child or other banned materials), they cannot arrest me, because I have not committed any crime. I am just exercising my right to freedom of expression…

If the same happens to you in Ghana, you will probably find your butt in jail, worrying your head over what went wrong.

And as always, ignorance of the law is no excuse. So you little freaks interested in making, possession and distribution of these materials must be careful about being caught or seen, else, you may deeply regret ever doing it.

If I’ve missed something on this topic, kindly let me know….Now do you still want the tapes?