The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD- Ghana) has ‘strongly condemned “unlawful tactics” employed by the Ghana Police Service in the arrest and detention of some 40 democracy hub protesters.
The statement signed by CDD- Ghana’s senior Programs Officer for Human Rights and Social Inclusion, Dr. Micheal Augustus Akagbor, says these persons were demonstrating against critical national issues, including the rising incidence of state capture, widespread corruption, and unchecked illegal small- scale mining (galamsey, which is destroying the country’s water bodies.
CDD expressed disgust over the repeated use of excessive and illegal control tactics by the police in dealing with protestors, mainly made up of young Ghanaians. According to the statement, actions of the Ghana Police Service undermines Article 14 of the 1992 constitution, especially.
‘’The unnecessary manhandling and brutality of citizens exercising their civic and political rights to protest, the refusal by the police to release the complete list of arrested individuals, the ongoing denial of access to legal counsel for detainees, indirect violation of Article 14 (2) of the constitution’’.
‘’we remind the government and relevant authorities that Ghana is a signatory to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which upholds the right to peaceful assembly under Article 21.’’
Established in 1998, the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) is an independent not-for-profit think-and-do-tank that works through research, policy engagement, thought leadership, and civic dialogue and partnerships to promote and strengthen democracy, good governance, and inclusive development in Ghana and the rest of Africa.
