{"id":104605,"date":"2025-11-29T05:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T05:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104605"},"modified":"2025-11-29T05:15:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T05:15:00","slug":"cdd-boss-slams-police-for-wasting-scarce-resources-on-defamation-arrests-demands-focus-shift-to-galamsey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104605","title":{"rendered":"CDD boss slams police for \u2018wasting scarce resources\u2019 on defamation arrests; Demands focus shift to galamsey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 35 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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The Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, has condemned the Ghana Police Service (GPS) following the arrest of a suspect over alleged false claims related to illegal small-scale mining (galamsey). <\/p>\n

Prof. Prempeh, the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee, asserted that the police are \u201cwasting scarce resources\u201d on political defamation cases that should be handled through civil courts, arguing that their efforts must be urgently channelled into combating the national disaster of galamsey.<\/p>\n

The controversy erupted following the police\u2019s arrest of Wendell Nana Yaw Yeboah, the Head of Mobilisation for the civil society group Democracy Hub, on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.<\/p>\n

Prempeh\u2019s Charge: Misuse of State Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reacting strongly on Facebook, Prof. Prempeh questioned the necessity of police involvement in disputes over reputation, particularly when Ghana faces an existential environmental crisis. <\/p>\n

He insisted that pursuing such cases represents a \u201ccomplete waste of scarce resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that any defamed Minister has clear, adequate non-police options under Ghana\u2019s legal framework, which abolished criminal libel.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhy is this a Police matter? The defamed Minister has a right to cause his alleged defamer to retract and apologise or face a civil defamation suit for damages. No need for Police involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The CDD boss then posed a direct and rhetorical challenge to the police\u2019s selective enforcement:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWill the Police arrest a person who defames me, or is this Police Anti-Defamation Service reserved for Ministers and government officials? Go and fight galamsey, and stop wasting scarce resources policing defamatory speech against big people in government,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The Real Threat: Environmental Devastation<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Prof. Prempeh\u2019s call highlights the acute resource imbalance in the state\u2019s security strategy. Galamsey activities are estimated to have corrupted a significant percentage of Ghana\u2019s primary water sources, with toxic chemicals like mercury and cyanide posing immense public health and economic risks.<\/p>\n

The Professor\u2019s stance effectively argues that police manpower, logistics, and intelligence capabilities\u2014resources that are financially limited\u2014should be deployed to protect the nation\u2019s environmental integrity and future, rather than focusing on the reputation of individual public office holders who have access to robust civil legal avenues for redress.<\/p>\n

The Police Action and The Ministerial Petition<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

A statement issued by the police confirmed the arrest, noting it was executed by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) following a petition.<\/p>\n

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The police statement on Wednesday, November 26, said that following a petition for investigation received by the CID, submitted by Mr Daniel Sasu Omari and two others on behalf of the Ashanti, Eastern, and Western Regional Ministers, suspect Wendell Nana Yaw Yeboah has been arrested to assist the investigation.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wendell Nana Yaw Yeboah was subsequently put before the court on Thursday, November 27, 2025.<\/p>\n

Private legal practitioner Oliver Barker-Vormawor publicly expressed concerns about the development, stating on Facebook that the suspect was allegedly detained \u201con the orders of the government, for accusing Govt appointees of Galamsey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barker-Vormawor tersely concluded, \u201cBack to default settings,\u201d suggesting a return to a pattern of using state security to suppress political commentary.<\/p>\n

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\"CDDThe Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, has condemned the Ghana Police Service (GPS) following the arrest of a suspect over alleged false claims related to illegal small-scale mining (galamsey).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3855,196,1883,117,10,9,1887],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arrest","category-galamsey","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}