Dorcas Sherifa Sulemana, one of the 53 persons arrested at the Democracy Hub protest organised between September 21 and 23, 2024, has disclosed that she met Aisha Huang, the galamsey kingpin who was jailed in Ghana over illegal mining in December 2023.
She said Aisha Huang, who looked visibly surprised after hearing people have been arrested for campaigning couldn’t hold herself but had to comment.
According to her, after spending three days at the Dansoman police cells, she was transferred to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison until their bail.
Recounting her ordeal, Sulemana says she went through series of ordeal in the hands of the police, including being starved for three days.
She says the information given by the Ghana Police Service to discount their claims that they were being starved was not true.
The Ghana Police Service had said that the suspects who were arrested were served routinely with food from popular restaurant, Papaye, when news emerged that they were being starved.
But Sherifa says she was not served any food for the days she spent at the Dansoman police cells, until her final day before being transferred to Nsawam, when the senior officer in charge, reprimanded the officers for starving her through the period. She said it was then that the senior officer, a woman, ordered the other police officers to get her food to eat.
Sharing her time at Nsawam, she disclosed that Aisha Huang questioned the motive of Ghanaian leaders after hearing the news of their arrest.
Speaking on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, Thursday, October 10, 2024, Sherifa indicated that Aisha Huang expressed shock after seeing her in prison for demonstrating against galamsey.
According to her, in the words of the Chinese woman, it did not make sense that she (Aisha) was jailed for indulging in galamsey whilst someone preaching against same would also be arrested.
“Me, my news. You, your news. I come to Ghana do galamsey, they catch me. You, you say, stop galamsey, they catch you, which is which?,” Sherifa quoted the galamsey kingpin on Onua TV.
The Ghana Police Service arrested some persons for demonstrating against illegal mining in the country. According to the police, the protestors indulged in series of breaches that warranted their arrest.
In the wake of calls for the release of the detainees, President Akufo-Addo rejected claims that his government was stifling dissent voices, adding that the arrest of the people was due to their own cause and deserved to be arrested.
Speaking to France-based Television network France24 on Friday, October 4, the President stated that he acknowledges peaceful protest as a core pillar of democracy.
The case of the Democracy Hub Protestors is being prosecuted by the office Attorney General and Minister of Justice after the police arrested and reportedly held some of them beyond the permissible forty-eight hours before taking them to court.
Some legal experts have described the state’s detention of the protestors as harsh considering that they were protesting against a critical matter of illegal mining which is destroying water bodies and forest reserves.
Some lawyers are of the view that the protestors could have been granted bail immediately after their arrest since the charges against them are misdemeanours.
Critics believe the State is abusing processes to punish the demonstrators who have since filed a suit against the government.
“I am not responsible for jailing people in Ghana. The courts in Ghana are independent institutions and they have been so through the Fourth Republic. People misconduct themselves and are brought before the court it is for the court, it is for the court to deal with them, it has nothing to do with the executive, and their behaviour is what landed them in trouble with the Police and the court.
“How can a president whose 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.”
He called for peaceful demonstrations and urged protesters to work with the relevant authorities to find sustainable solutions to the Galamsey menace.
‘I won’t be surprised if Organised Labour was bribed’ – Amoako Baah
