Mr. Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, Independent Presidential Candidate of the Movement for Change, has called on the Attorney General to discontinue the prosecution of the arrested Democracy Hub demonstrators.
He argued that the arrests and charges were arbitrary, as the demonstrators had constitutional rights to protest in coordination with the police, who had supervised their demonstration over the three days.
Mr. Kyerematen made the call during a press briefing by the Movement for Change in Accra on the arrests of the demonstrators.
He said that their arrests and prosecution appeared to be politically motivated to instill fear in the public, particularly the youth, for expressing their dissatisfaction with the government’s failures.
Mr. Kyerematen said that it was unjust for the demonstrators to be remanded for nearly two weeks without access to bail conditions, simply for exercising their right to protest.
“Admittedly, the acts of some of the protesters were excessive in form and character and may have constituted a breach of public peace and order.
“It is within the constitutional right of every Ghanaian to express freely their freedoms and to assemble in pursuit for their constitutional rights of freedom of speech.
“In this regard it is offensive to the proper conduct and practice of criminal prosecution for the Police and Attorney General’s Office to bring charges of conspiracy to commit crime in the nature of unlawful assembly, when the police were aware the demonstration would take and did not take judicial steps to abort it,” he said.
Mr Kyerematen said the protest had exposed the failure of the current government and the past NDC-government to manage the resource endowment of the country in a sustainable way for the benefit of the populace.
He mentioned that his Movement had developed a ten-point plan to address illegal mining, which includes halting all mining activities—both legal and illegal—within a year.
Mr. Kyerematen said the plan would also review mining licenses and introduce legislation to prohibit mining in forest reserves and water sources.
He said that he would establish a citizen’s mining rights group to serve as watchdogs for responsible mining and a youth in mining initiative to support the youth with infrastructure and seed capital to engage in responsible mining.
Source: GNA