The draconian handling of Oliver Barker-Vormawor and members of the Democracy Hub, who are being prosecuted by the Ghana Police Service, has assumed an international dimension with the county’s Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, taken on a CNN journalist, over a post he shared on X, which she considered one-sided.
Larry Madowo, posted a video on the arrests of over 40 protesters, including a 4-month pregnant woman during the anti-galamsey demonstration held from September 21 to September 23, 2024, by the Democracy Hub, in Accra.
In a post shared on X on Thursday, September 26, 2024, the minister, while reacting to a video report by Madowo, expressed her dissatisfaction with the characterisation of the arrests given by the journalist.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor and 12 other members of the Democracy Hub, were yesterday remanded into police custody for two weeks, with the Deputy Attorney General in a media interview, expressing disappointment over the failure of lawyers representing the pregnant protester by the name Vera, to inform the court of her pregnancy during her bail hearing.
Fatimatu Abubakar, accused the CNN journalist of being biased in his report, because he reported only one side of the story.
“Please do well to check and report on both sides of a story when making publications that impact a country’s image,” Abubakar chided Madowo.
She went on to defend Ghana’s democratic credentials, pointing to the country’s regard for the rule of law.
“Ghana has always supported citizens’ right to demonstrate peacefully. However, acts of vandalism, attacks on Police, and disruptions to public order will always be contained by the Police in any jurisdiction.
“Ghana’s courts are also mature enough to examine evidence against accused persons and make appropriate decisions,” she wrote.
The CNN journalist, shared a video report on X on September 25, 2024, saying that a section of the Ghanaian public was enraged over the arrest and continuous detention of the demonstrators.
“Ghana’s president is speaking here in New York this morning at the UN General Assembly. While back at home, there is outrage over the continued detention of peaceful protestors against illegal mining.
“Some of them have been denied bail, have been denied access to medical care. And people are raising their voices about the human rights violations by the Ghana Police Service and also by what they see as the courts’ attempt to deny them their constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
Vera, four months pregnant, was arrested during a Democracy Hub demonstration and subsequently remanded in custody for two weeks.
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Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah, speaking to Citi News, stressed that it is the responsibility of the defense counsel to inform the court of their client’s pregnancy.
He explained that, the court cannot independently verify such details, and if the lawyers had made this known, it could have been taken into account when deciding whether to grant bail.
Mr Tuah Yeboah, clarified that while the law mandates the disclosure of pregnancy during sentencing, there is no explicit requirement for it during bail applications.
However, he emphasised that informing the court of such important factors, could influence the court’s decision.
He criticised Vera’s legal team for neglecting their duty to disclose her condition, thereby depriving the court of crucial information that could have impacted her bail status.
He stated, “On this issue about the pregnant person, whether she’s pregnant or not, it’s not something that I can confirm for now, but the law on these matters is very clear. Now, when someone is pregnant and she’s stood before a law court, and the court is considering whether to grant bail or not to grant bail, the lawyer of a certain accused person must make it known to the court that his client is pregnant and provide the evidence.”
“So the court, considering the bail application, they want to look at that aspect of it. But the courts are also mandated by law. When they convict a female person, and it’s about to sentence the female, the court is mandated to inquire whether the female, that accused person, is pregnant. So when it comes to the grant of bail, the law does not mandate the judges to inquire, but when it comes to sentencing, that is where the judge prefers to do that.”
“On this particular case, I’ve checked with the attorneys who were in court yesterday, and from what we have been told, the issue of the pregnancy of an accused person never came up in court for the court’s consideration.
“And so if indeed one of the accused persons is pregnant, then the counsel for that accused person feels it is his duty to disclose that information to the court.”
“So if there’s any blame, I’d rather lay it on the doorsteps of the lawyer for that accused person and I’ve gone to the extent also to find out from the CID whether that information of pregnancy came to be a notice, whether that accused person disclosed to them that she was pregnant and there’s nothing from their end to that effect.”
Interestingly, a Deputy Communications Director for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jennifer Queen, has challenged claims by the Women’s wing of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Police arrested a pregnant woman during the Democracy Hub demonstration at 37 in Accra.
According to her, there was no evidence that any of the suspects was pregnant as of the time they were arrested following their violations.
“The lady is not showing any physical signs of pregnancy, she did not inform any of the police officers that she was pregnant. When she got to court, she did not inform the court that she was pregnant, so there’s no evidence as claimed by the NDC,” she told Asaaseradio.com on Thursday.
She further noted: “Her lawyer, spoke in court and applied for bail, the lawyer did not mention that she was pregnant for the court to consider it. if she did not inform the police or court; nor her lawyer inform the police or court; and she was not showing any physical signs, how was anyone supposed to know about”.
The comment comes in the wake of claims by the NDC in a statement that the Police knowingly arrested a pregnant a woman during the demonstration.
Meanwhile, the Police have dismissed claims in sections of the media that they denied medical care to some of the suspects who reported ill health.
“The Police would like to inform the public that at no point in time have the Police denied these suspects any medical attention,” a Police statement said on Wednesday 25th September 2024.
Former President John Mahama had waded into the matter criticizing what he calls the forceful handling of protesters by the Ghana Police Service during the recent three-day demonstration organised by Democracy Hub.
According to Mr Mahama, the country must strike a balance between maintaining law and order and protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer for the 2024 election described remanding of the protesters as “high-handedness.”
“Remanding Democracy Hub demonstrators for two weeks is high-handed and an abuse of their rights,” he wrote on Thursday, September 26.
Mr Mahama stated that Ghanaian youth have the right to protest in defense of their future, particularly regarding critical issues like environmental destruction due to illegal mining.
“Draconian judicial decisions such as this won’t stop them from speaking out. The authorities must request the judge to review the remand decision and grant them bail immediately,” the former president added.
His comments follow the Accra Circuit Court’s decision on Tuesday, September 24, to remand 28 protesters from the Democracy Hub into police custody, with an additional 11 protesters remanded into prison custody.
His NDC running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, also expressed deep concern over the arrest and detention of 40 participants of the Democracy Hub demonstration.
The former Education Minister has described the situation as harsh treatment and has therefore called on the government to end the persecution.
In a statement, Prof Opoku-Agyemang bemoaned the manhandling of protesters, arrest, starvation, and denial of access to family and legal counsel by the police, along with the subsequent remand of some protesters by the Accra Circuit is alarming.
Criticising the development, she questioned the government’s sincerity in its proclaimed fight against illegal mining and the destruction of water bodies and forest reserves.
According to her, authorities must shift their efforts towards tackling illegal mining, which she noted is severely harming the country’s water resources, health, cocoa farms, and food security.
“It is incongruous that those actively behind illegal mining are freely walking about and smiling all the way to the bank while protesters who are concerned about the harmful impact of illegal mining are rather being suppressed,” part of the statement read.
She further urged the government to desist from suppressing the right of Ghanaians to protest, especially as protests are fundamental to human rights.
“These feudal, authoritarian and early-century reactions by the government to a peaceful protest have no place in a 21-century democracy. The government must therefore immediately end the persecution of the protesters and unconditionally release those in custody,” the statement noted.
