President John Mahama has expressed worry over the extent to which critics use social media to create what he calls blatant lies about him and his government appointees.

“…When you have a country like Ghana where everybody is free to discuss corruption, if you wake up and you are angry with your husband or wife, you take it out on the president, abuse him on the radio. When you have that kind of society, there are all kinds of issues that come up," he added.

President Mahama believed critics who create such lies about him should channel their creativity into “lucrative things”.

“And then we have the addition of social media. Because of the anonymity, people just fix some blatant lies and put it on WhatsApp. And, sometimes, they are so creative, and I said these people the way they are creative, if they channel this creativity into lucrative things Ghana would not be where it is.

“They would create something about you and if it is not because I am myself and I know that it is not true, anybody who sees it would believe it. We have all that floating in the system and all that, so, it heightens people’s perception about corruption. And, so, it is easy to say that there is more corruption in this regime than in that regime. Where would comparison of corruption take us? It won’t take us anywhere,” the President stressed.

On ways to fight corruption, President Mahama said that the Attorney General’s (AG) Department was working on the Whistle Blower’s Amendment Bill and Witness Protection Scheme to ensure easy access and flow of information.