Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo has told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that the Executive arm of government cannot be taken out of the discussion on the arrest and the prosecution of the Democracy Hub protesters.
He says that the Attorney-General who is an appointee and Chief legal advisor to the president and government is the one in court prosecuting the protesters. Edudzi accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of dishonesty in his comments on the arrest of the Democracy Hub protesters.
He described the level of the president’s dishonesty in this matter as ‘terrible’.
“The level of dishonesty is terrible, he ignores local media and grants interviews to international, the reason he does this is that there is no benefit of fact-checking him.
“The person who is in court prosecuting these protesters is an appointee of Akufo-Addo, the person who arrested these protesters is the IGP appointed by Akufo-Addo,” Edudzi said on the Big Issue on TV3 Monday, October 7.
His comments come at a time when President Akufo-Addo said the executive arm of government has no influence in the recent arrest and detention of some Democracy Hub protesters.
President Akufo-Addo believes that the recent arrest and detention of the protesters rather stems from their behaviour during the protest.
He explained that as a political leader who has embarked on several protests in the past, he has no problem with citizens protesting about an issue of concern.
“How can a president who himself, his political career was aided by leading protests have problems with protest, I don’t have problems with protests,” President Akufo-Addo told France 24 in a recent interview.
According to him, government is not stifling citizens’ right through any means.
“…and nothing is done in Ghana to prevent people from airing their views on anything,” he said.
The President further elaborated that the courts in Ghana are “independent” of their mandates with no influence from the Executive.
“The courts in Ghana are independent institutions and they have been all through this fourth republic.
“People misconduct themselves and they are brought before the court, it is for the court to deal with them…it has nothing to do with the Executive.
The protesters who were arrested during their second day of demonstration [September 22] against galamsey have been detained and remanded into prison and police custody.
They have been scheduled to reappear in court on October 8. They were charged with offences such as conspiracy to commit crime, unlawful assembly, causing unlawful damage, offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace, assault on public officer and defacement of public notice.
The protesters have pleaded not guilty to the charges. In the past weeks, Ghanaians have embarked on different protests to demand an immediate action from Government to end illegal mining in the country.
The rising galamsey menace has already led to the pollution of water bodies in the country causing citizens to rise against the activity before all hopes of salvaging the situation is lost.
From Thursday, October 3 to Saturday, October 5, Coalition of Citizens Against Galamsey also embarked on a three-day protest against galamsey and demanded the release of the detainees. They petitioned the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on the issue.
Source: 3news.com
