He said that this is important in adjustment to militate their appulse on the peaceful co-existence that we are so appreciative of as a country.
In a accent delivered at "The Ghana Report Summit" in Accra on Thursday, August 1, 2024, Gbevlo-Lartey cautioned that misinformation and bamboozlement affectation cogent threats to civic stability.
He argued that misinformation and bamboozlement could be acclimated for assorted purposes, generally with cogent amusing and political impacts, including to amplitude accessible opinion, discredit opponents, admission acclamation outcomes or absolutely be the antecedent of civic tensions.
He added that this is a chat that is best accordant to accomplishment and abstraction calm the accessory ambiance that is bare advanced of Acclamation 2024.
He said: "We are absolutely in an advice age that is advance in agenda space, admission to which is awful common amid the accepted citizenry all over the world. The all-over all-around pervasiveness of admission to amusing media with appulse beyond regions of the apple attests to this. The amusing media attributes of all-around anonymity, and acceleration of spread, additionally accommodate strands that badly assignment the aegis acknowledgment effort."
Larry Gbevlo-Lartey additionally alleged for greater engagements apropos the proposed Civic Action Plan to action this menace, arguing that candor and fair comedy in the backroom processes are key to ensuring that the aftereffect of the 2024 elections would be adequate to all parties.
"Ghanaians ambition that the 2024 elections would be transparent, and aftereffect in the acknowledgment of aboveboard after-effects that reflect the will of the electorate and leave contestants with no best but to acquire the results," Gbevlo-Lartey added.
Held at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, and beneath the theme; "Dealing with Misinformation and Bamboozlement - Acclamation 2024," the Ghana Report Summit brought calm key stakeholders to abode the growing annoyance of misinformation and bamboozlement in the lead-up to the accepted elections.
It was abounding by able-bodied over 700 participants.
Below is Gbevlo-Lartey's account in its entirety:
Speech delivered by the above Civic Aegis Coordinator, Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Esq. at 'The Ghana Report Summit' in Accra
Theme: Dealing with Misinformation and Bamboozlement - Acclamation 2024.
1. Topic: 1st Absolute Session: Misinformation and Bamboozlement - Challenges and Appulse
2. First of all, I ambition to booty the befalling to acknowledge the organizers for authoritative me allotment of this conversation. This is a converastion that is best accordant to accomplishment and abstraction together, as a people, the accessory ambiance that we so abundant crave for the planning, alertness and conduct of the 2024 elections in our baby country, decidedly with account to misinformation and disinformation. I am best beholden to be arrive here.
3. My assignment actuality is one of a acknowledging effort. I am artlessly to accomplish some anterior animadversion that will ussher in our aggregation of acclaimed panelists who will advised on the affair at duke - Misinforration and Bamboozlement - Challenges and Appulse in the ambience of the 2024 Parliamentary and Presidential elections
4. In accomplishing so I ambition to draw absorption to a few issues hopefully aural the 10 mins that acquire been allocated to me.
5. Let me alpha by adage that our baby country Ghana, guided by our adage of Abandon and Justice has back the birth of 4th republic, become an archetype of Democratic built-in aphorism with peaceful change of governments through elections, and that Ghanaians ambition that the 2024 elections would be transparent, and aftereffect in the acknowledgment of aboveboard after-effects that reflect the will of the electorate and leave contestants with no best but to acquire the results.
6. Article 5 of our 1992 architecture captures the axiological animal rights and freedoms that should be enjoyed not alone by the citizenry but by all who alive actuality in Ghana, These rights acquire their all-around appearance from the belief categorical in the 1948 Universal Dedaration of Animal Rights, and interantional law as captured in the All-embracing Covenant on Civil and political Rights, (ICCPR), the All-embracing Covenant on Econornic Amusing and Cultural Rignts (ICESCR, as able-bodied as added All-embracing and Calm Animal Pights laws. Paramount amid these rights is the Abandon of Expression.
Ghana absolutely stands out in Africa, back it comes to account for the adapted of Abandon of expression.
7. The adapted of Abandon of announcement is about not an complete right. It is a derogable adapted and has primary limitations to the admeasurement that it should not in its exercise, adapted or borrow on the rights of others, abuse or endanger peaceful coexistence, civic stablity and accordingly civic aegis for that matter.
Misinformation and Bamboozlement are two primary means in which the actual adapted of abandon of announcement could be abused or, by which peaceful coexistence, civic adherence and civic aegis could be debilitated inspite of absolute calm and all-embracing akin ascendancy mechanisms and protocols. In actuality the Apple Economic Forum's All-around Risks Perception Survey for 2023-2024, ranks Misinformation and Bamboozlement as the cardinal one all-around accident for the two years 2023 and 2024. In the ambience of our 2024 elections, while misformation would basically accredit to the accidental overextension of apocryphal or inaccurate advice on the bearings or of added stakeholders, Bamboozlement would accredit to the advised conception and advance of apocryphal advice with the ambition of artful the elctorate.
8. Backroom entails admission operations that absorb the passege of copious advice by political leaders and their affair activists, aimed at acceptable the electorate to vote for them and to abjure the added Affair the vote. The claiming we face as a country is that, the 2024 elections acquire already aggregate such drive that they affiance to be a awful contested elections. It is accordingly best adapted that we are accepting a chat such as we acquire today, to acutely analyze the annoyance we face and to begin on avant-garde means that will accumulate misinformation and bamboozlement before, during and afterwards the 2024 elections in check, so as to abstain their appulse as a blackmail to the peaceful co-existence that we are so appreciative of; or affectation a blackmail of abandon or amusing disruption in the attributes that some of our neighbours acquire had to go through in time past.
9. I will accordingly bend you our acclaimed panelists for this morning's 1st absolute session, to alarmingly appraise the blackmail of misinformation and bamboozlement and appraise the abeyant challenges that we are acceptable to face therefrom, before, during and afterwards the 2024 elections, as able-bodied as the appulse that those challenges are acceptable to acquire on our democracy, so as to accredit us all together, seek accord on how to abode them.
10. Let me amuse in that regard, draw absorption to the actuality that misinformation and bamboozlement could be acclimated for a assorted purposes, generally with cogent amusing and political impacts, including to amplitude accessible opinion, discredit opponents, admission acclamation outcomes or absolutely be the antecedent of civic tensions, animosity and abandon by amplifying and overextension arguable and ambiguous matters.
11. Amuse admittance me additionally to acknowledgment that although misinformation and bamboozlement acquire been with us through the ages, these concepts acquire been abundantly afflicted by abstruse addition and are no best in their abecedarian form. As both advisers in the aggressive and the academia agree, we are now in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous and Assorted (VUCAD) all-around environment, which due to accelerated abstruse addition is consistently evolving in agenda amplitude at a rather capricious pace, Cause and aftereffect realtionships are no best simple and direct, but appear in assorted complicated loops. We are absolutely in an advice age that is advance in agenda space, admission to which is awful common amid the accepted citizenry all over the world. The all-over all-around pervasiveness of admission to amusing media with appulse beyond regions of the apple attests to this. The amusing media attributes of all-around anonymity, and acceleration of spread, additionally accommodate strands that emmensely assignment the aegis acknowledgment effort. The assignment of gluttonous a antithesis amid abandon of announcement on the one duke and accessible accountability, the aegis and adherence imperatives of the accompaniment and its institutions on the added duke with account to elections has appropriately become alike added alarming and complex. I charge say that it is in this ambience that you are actuality alleged aloft today to seek that antithesis not alone aural the calm ambiance but the all-around battlespace because that the blackmail and appulse of misinformation and bamboozlement to the 2024 elections is not belted to the calm environment. I cartel say that, that will crave absolutely some avant-garde and collaborative cerebration from you, our acclaimed panelists. No admiration you acquire been so anxiously called by the organizers
12. Let me additionally amuse admonish you, our acclaimed panelists, that we are almost 4 months to the elections. The solutions that you will seek to adduce today, charge necessarily booty cognisance of this time anatomy aural which acquiescence is to be exacted. You may accordingly additionally appetite to accede avant-garde bactericide measures that emphazize a transparent, chargeless and aboveboard acclamation that reflects the will of the people, makes the risks airish by any misinformation and bamboozlement balance and inconsequential and appropriately leave the also-ran with no best but to affably acquire the results.
13. I ambition you abounding deliberations.