President Akufo-Addo declares that he has no issues with the Ghana Police Service’s arrest of a few protestors during the #StopGalamsey event.
He said the court will deal with their activities, which led to their arrest.
In an interview, the president stated to France 24 TV that he had nothing to do with their detention and that he would not overturn the court’s decision to remand them.
“I’m not responsible for jailing people in Ghana. The courts in Ghana are independent institutions and they have been all through this period of the Fourth Republic. People misconduct themselves and they’re brought before court. It’s for the court to deal with them. It has nothing to do with politics or the executive.
“Their behavior is what lands them in problems with the police and with the courts. It’s not the protest. How can the president, who himself’s political career was aided by leading protests, have problems with protests? I don’t have problems with protests. And nothing is done in Ghana to prevent people from airing their views on anything,” Akufo-Addo said.
The purpose of the current demonstration in question was to draw attention to the environmental destruction that galamsey—a practice that has negatively harmed Ghana’s natural resources, such as its rivers and forests—causes.
However, President Akufo-Addo thinks the demonstration was staged with political intent to defame his administration before the elections on December 7.
However, if the government does not answer the requests to stop galamsey, Organized Labor has been given notice that it would also go on strike on October 10, 2024.
Source: newsthemegh.com