The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, wants the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to openly call to order its parliamentary candidate in Amenfi East constituency for his recent statement.
The aspiring MP, Ernest Frimpong was seen in a viral video urging small-scale miners to attack military officers who disrupt their work in various concessions.
Also present at the forum was the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, who also heads the Regional Security Council.
The Parliamentary Candidate wrote his statement at the police station in Tarkwa on Wednesday, June 12 after being invited by the police.
Ernest Frimpong has already denied the allegations, asserting that he did not endorse illegal mining or encourage miners to fight military personnel.
He claimed his remarks were taken out of context from a two-hour engagement with artisanal small-scale miners, emphasising that his intentions were misrepresented.
During a discussion on Newsfile, NPP spokesperson Richard Ahiagbah indicated that the candidate may have been referring to a specific situation which he must be given the chance to clarify.
But the GII Executive Director insists that the trend will continue if the party leadership does not condemn the act.
"The party leadership, particularly those who speak for the party should be seen to manifestly condemn these utterances because they don't portend well for us as a people. And so Richard [Ahiagbah] who is speaking the way he does, trying to say that he could have been speaking about imposters when the gentleman clearly in the recording said that they have stopped the Galamstop, they have cancelled all the structures government has put in place to stop that..."
She explained that "We are a discerning people and we discern right from wrong and so nobody can tell us that what the gentleman said, he planned to say it in any other way."
"As I said in my introduction, this has gotten to impunity levels. What he did has done has never happened before. And if it is not taken care of by the party and also by the state, then it means what is coming, we all must be ready to face the consequences."
Speaking on Saturday, June 15, Mrs Addah demanded that the party also triggers action in line with its code of conduct to assure Ghanaians of its commitment to ending the 'galamsey' canker.
"Then they should be putting in place some of their code of conducts to them, that is if they have them, to speak to some of these despicable utterance that are made by officials. This also has the potential to bring the party's reputation into disrepute.
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) already issued a stern warning against the calls for attacks on soldiers, highlighting the significant threat such actions pose to the nation's security and stability.
Credit: Kenneth Awotwe Darko