Gbevlo-Lartey advocates for transparent elections, warns against disinformation

Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Esq., former National Security Coordinator and former AU Special Representative for Counter-Terrorism Cooperation & Director of the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT), says the state must adopt innovative ways that will keep misinformation and disinformation in check before, during and after the 2024 elections.

According to him, this will mitigate their impact on the peaceful co-existence that Ghanaians are so proud of as a country.

In a speech delivered at “The Ghana Report Summit” in Accra on Thursday, August 1, 2024, Gbevlo-Lartey cautioned that misinformation and disinformation pose significant threats to national stability.

He argued that misinformation and disinformation could be used for various purposes, often with significant social and political impacts, including to sway public opinion, discredit opponents, influence election outcomes or indeed be the source of societal tensions, adding that this is a conversation that is most relevant to forging and shaping together the conducive environment that is needed ahead of election 2024.

He said: “We are indeed in an information age that is unfolding in digital space, access to which is highly pervasive among the general population all over the world. The ubiquitous global pervasiveness of access to social media with impact across regions of the world attests to this. The social media attributes of global anonymity, and speed of spread, also provide strands that immensely task the security response effort.”

Larry Gbevlo-Lartey called for greater engagement regarding the proposed National Action Plan to combat this menace, arguing that fairness and fair play in the electioneering processes are key to ensuring that the outcome of the 2024 elections would be acceptable to all parties.

“Ghanaians wish that the 2024 elections would be transparent, and result in the declaration of credible results that reflect the will of the electorate and leave contestants with no choice but to accept the results,” Gbevlo-Lartey added.

Held at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, and under the theme; “Dealing with Misinformation and Disinformation – Election 2024,” the Ghana Report Summit brought together key stakeholders to address the growing menace of misinformation and disinformation in the lead-up to the general elections.

It was attended by well over 700 participants.

Below is Gbevlo-Lartey’s statement in its entirety:

Speech delivered by the former National Security Coordinator, Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Esq. at ‘The Ghana Report Summit’ in Accra

Theme: Dealing with Misinformation and Disinformation – Election 2024.

1. Topic: 1st Plenary Session: Misinformation and Disinformation – Challenges and Impact

2. First of all, I wish to take the opportunity to thank the organizers for making me part of this conversation. This is a conversation that is most relevant to forging and shaping together, as a people, the conducive environment that we so much require for the planning, preparation and conduct of the 2024 elections in our dear country, particularly with respect to misinformation and disinformation. I am most grateful to be invited here.

3. My task here is one of a supporting effort. I am simply to make some introductory remarks that will usher in our team of distinguished panellists who will deliberate on the topic at hand – Misinformation and Disinformation – Challenges and Impact in the Context of the 2024 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections

4. In doing so I wish to draw attention to a few issues hopefully within the 10 mins that have been allocated to me.

5. Let me start by saying that our dear country Ghana, guided by our motto of Freedom and Justice has since the inception of 4th republic, become an example of Democratic constitutional rule with peaceful change of governments through elections, and that Ghanaians wish that the 2024 elections would be transparent, and result in the declaration of credible results that reflect the will of the electorate and leave contestants with no choice but to accept the results.

6. Article 5 of our 1992 constitution captures the fundamental human rights and freedoms that should be enjoyed not only by the citizenry but by all who live here in Ghana, These rights derive their global character from the ethics outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international law as captured in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, as well as other International and Domestic Human Rights laws. Paramount among these rights is the Freedom of Expression.

Ghana actually stands out in Africa, when it comes to respect for the right of Freedom of expression.

7. The right of Freedom of expression is however not an absolute right. It is a derogable right and has primary limitations to the extent that it should not in its exercise, encroach or infringe on the rights of others, threaten or endanger peaceful coexistence, national stability and therefore national security for that matter.

Misinformation and Disinformation are two primary ways in which the very right of freedom of expression could be abused or, by which peaceful coexistence, national stability and national security could be undermined in spite of existing domestic and international restrictive control mechanisms and protocols. In fact the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey for 2023-2024, ranks Misinformation and Disinformation as the number one global risk for the two years 2023 and 2024. In the context of our 2024 elections, while misformation would basically refer to the unintentional spreading of false or inaccurate information on the situation or of other stakeholders, Disinformation would refer to the deliberate creation and spread of false information with the intention of deceiving the electorate.

8. Electioneering entails influence operations that involve the passage of copious information by political leaders and their party activists, aimed at convincing the electorate to vote for them and to deny the other Party the vote. The challenge we face as a country is that the 2024 elections have already gathered such momentum that they promise to be a highly contested election. It is, therefore, most appropriate that we have a conversation such as we have today, to clearly identify the menace we face and to brainstorm on innovative ways that will keep misinformation and disinformation before, during and after the 2024 elections in check, so as to avoid their impact as a threat to the peaceful co-existence that we are so proud of; or pose a threat of violence or social disruption in the nature that some of our neighbours have had to go through in time past.

9. I will therefore edge you our distinguished panellists for this morning’s 1st plenary session, to critically evaluate the threat of misinformation and disinformation and examine the potential challenges that we are likely to face therefrom, before, during and after the 2024 elections, as well as the impact that those challenges are likely to have on our democracy, so as to enable us all together, seek consensus on how to address them.

10. Let me please in that regard, draw attention to the fact that misinformation and disinformation could be used for various purposes, often with significant social and political impacts, including to sway public opinion, discredit opponents, influence election outcomes or indeed be the source of societal tensions, polarization and violence by amplifying and spreading controversial and unproven matters.

11. Please permit me also to remark that although misinformation and disinformation have been with us through the ages, these concepts have been greatly influenced by technological innovation and are no longer in their rudimentary form. As both scholars in the military and the academia agree, we are now in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous and Diverse (VUCAD) global environment, which due to rapid technological innovation is constantly evolving in digital space at a rather unpredictable pace, Cause and effect relationships are no longer simple and direct, but come in diverse complicated loops.

We are indeed in an information age that is unfolding in digital space, access to which is highly pervasive among the general population all over the world. The ubiquitous global pervasiveness of access to social media with impact across regions of the world attests to this. The social media attributes of global anonymity, and speed of spread, also provide strands that immensely task the security response effort.

The task of seeking a balance between freedom of expression on the one hand and public accountability, the security and stability imperatives of the state and its institutions on the other hand with respect to elections has thus become even more daunting and complex. I must say that it is in this context that you are being called upon today to seek that balance not only within the domestic environment but the global battlespace considering that the threat and impact of misinformation and disinformation to the 2024 elections is not restricted to the domestic environment. I dare say that, that will require quite some innovative and collaborative thinking from you, our distinguished panelists. No wonder you have been so carefully selected by the organizers

12. Let me also please remind you, our distinguished panellists, that we are barely 4 months to the elections. The solutions that you will seek to propose today, need necessarily take cognisance of this time frame within which compliance is to be exacted. You may therefore also want to consider innovative preventative measures that emphasize a transparent, free and credible election that reflects the will of the people, makes the risks posed by any misinformation and disinformation residual and inconsequential and thus leave the loser with no choice but to graciously accept the results.

13. I wish you fruitful deliberations.