Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Vice Presidential Candidate, National Democratic Congress (NDC), has expressed concern about reports that the democracy hub protestors were treated with high-handedness during their three-day demonstration in Accra.
A statement issued by Mr James Agyenim-Boateng, the Spokesman of the NDC’s Running Mate, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the reports of manhandling, arrests, starvation, denial of access to family and legal counsel by the police, as well as the subsequent remand of the protesters, including a pregnant lady, by an Accra Circuit Court were alarming.
It said the brutal and high-handed response of the authorities, raised questions about the government’s commitment towards fighting against illegal mining and the destruction of Ghana’s water bodies, forest and farmlands.
The statement stressed that Prof. Opoku-Agyemang expected the authorities to re-direct their clampdown on the protesters toward a genuine fight against illegal mining and its harmful effects on waterbodies, the health of the people, destruction of cocoa farms and the implications for food security.
The statement said it was incongruous that those actively behind illegal mining were freely walking about and smiling all the way to the bank, while protesters who were concerned about the harmful impact of the menace were being suppressed.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang had therefore urged the Government to desist from suppressing the right of Ghanaians to protest, especially as protesting were fundamental to their human rights.
The statement said the “feudal, authoritarian, and early century reactions by the Government to a peaceful protest,” had no place in a 21st century democracy, and called for an immediate end to the persecution of the protesters and unconditionally release those in custody.
The statement said the Government should be taking a cue from the NDC’s pledge to professionally train illegal miners and give them expert mining advisory services, including attaching mining engineers to their operations, to ensure responsible mining without adverse impact on water bodies, forest reserve and the environment.
