Member of Parliament for the Madina Constituency,Francis-Xavier Sosu, has spoken up for Oliver Barker-Vormawor.
Barker-Vormawor is one of the leaders of the Democracy Hub group who were recently protesting against illegal mining in Ghana.
Barker-Vormawor in a viral picture was seen taking the the keys from a police car. Sosu doesn’t think this was wrong.
According to a report by GhanaWeb, the MP for Madina talked about this on Neat FM on October 7, 2024.
He asked, “What law has Barker-Vormawor broken by taking the ignition keys of a police vehicle during the protest?” Sosu thinks it’s important to look at what really happened.
He emphasized that, “For instance, if he took a police weapon, that would have constituted an offense. We need to properly contextualise the issue. What happened after he took the keys? Did the police not find the keys after the incident?”
The protest by the Democracy Hub of which Barker-Vormawor took part lasted for three days.
It was meant to show how bad illegal mining has affected the nation and to ask the government to do something about it quickly.
But now, Oliver and 52 other people have been arrested to face the law. They’ve been charged with many things, like planning together to do something illegal, wrongful gathering , breaking things, causing trouble, attacking police officers, and writing on public property. An Accra High Court said Barker-Vormawor can’t get out on bail.
This story shows that there’s a lot of talk in Ghana about protests and what people are allowed to do. Some people, like Sosu, think that taking car keys isn’t a big deal. But the police and courts seem to think differently. They’ve charged Barker-Vormawor and others with serious crimes.
The protest was about illegal mining, which is a big problem in Ghana. It hurts the environment and takes away resources from the country. The people who were protesting wanted to make sure everyone knows about this problem. They hoped the government would do more to stop it