Cameroon’s Minister of Communication has denounced the use of traditional and social media to criticise Government’s Coronavirus response strategy and publish misinformation on other sensitive issues surrounding national life with the aim to castigate actions undertaken by public authorities.

Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi was speaking Monday July 13 at a joint press conference with the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng on what they called recent waves of deviant behaviours on social network and the media.

According to Government’s spokesperson, there have been a propagation of untruths and misinformation on social and traditional media, fabricated and deliberately biased to undermine social cohesion and the living together of the population.

In the case of the Coronavirus pandemic, Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi says many denigrators and other self-invested sermonizers have, under various profiles scoured all kinds of media to challenge the national response strategy against the virus.

“This manipulative and distorting frenzy is even more accentuated in the media treatment of the security situation in the North West and South West regions…” The Communication boss said talking about the Anglophone crisis.

“Nowhere in the world has press freedom been equated to libertinism or pretext for disorder, cacophony or anarchy…” He added and reiterated Government’s appeal to the professionalism, responsibility and citizenship of journalists in the exercise of their profession.

The Minister further cautioned authors of “untruths” circulating on social media, indicating that those who shall be caught will be punished accordingly.

“Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments, but shall be responsible for such abuses of his free as defined by the law in force…”.