Award-winning dancehall artiste Shatta Wale has officially filed a complaint at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service over the publication of a story that he was suffering from a kidney problem.
Social media was awash with a news claiming that Shatta Wale is suffering from a kidney disease.
However, business manager of the musician, Chris Koney, described the news news as fake and should be disregarded.
The musician subsequently reported the incident to the CID following which a team was dispatched to the residence of Ibrah 1 who published the news on social media.
But the team after storming the residence of Ibrah 1 met his absence and have left an official notice for him to report himself to the CID for questioning.
According to the team, the publication of fake news is punishable by law under Section 76, Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775).
The law states that “(1) A person who by means of electronic communications service, knowingly sends a communication which is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life saving service or to endanger the safety of any person, … commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than [thirty six thousand Ghana Cedis] or to a term of imprisonment of not more than five years or both.”
The law also further states that ” (2) A person is taken to know that a communication is false or misleading if that person did not take reasonable steps to find out whether the communication was false, misleading, reckless or fraudulent.”
Meanwhile, the management team of the musician say the fake news was not only terrible but unprofessional.
The team say they expect the law to deal ruthlessly with the originator of the news so it would serve as a deterrent to others.
It was their view that bloggers should also consider this law before forwarding fake news on social media.
Several news portals had published the news about the alleged kidney problem of the musician.
It was allegedly fuelled by one Ibrah One, who was once a close friend of the musician.
source: Rainbow Radio Online
