By Daniel Bampoe
A planned protest against illegal mining, locally known as galamsey, will proceed on Monday, April 28, 2025, after an Accra High Court struck out an attempt by the Ghana Police Service to halt the demonstration.
The move marks a major victory for civil society activists and organizers, who accused the government of attempting to suppress civic expression.
The demonstration, which will start at Obra Spot near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and end at Liberation Square opposite the Jubilee House, was nearly derailed after the police filed a motion seeking a prohibition orderpoint.
The police cited security concerns, arguing that the route and endpoint of the protest fell within a designated security zone and could potentially disrupt public order and traffic flow in the capital.
However, the Attorney General’s Department, sensing legal and procedural flaws in the police’s injunction application, directed its withdrawal.
On Friday, April 25, 2025, Assistant State Attorney David Bachem appeared before the court to request the motion’s withdrawal on behalf of the Attorney General.
The court, with no objections, struck out the case, effectively granting protesters the freedom to proceed with their planned action.
The protest is being spearheaded by civic activists, notably media personality Okatakyie Mensah Afrifa, alongside environmental advocacy groups and concerned citizens.
They have expressed frustration over what they describe as the government’s slow and ineffective efforts to combat the menace of illegal mining, which has devastated vast swathes of Ghana’s forests, poisoned rivers, and rendered farmlands infertile.
“This was clearly an attempt to silence legitimate civic dissent,” Okatakyie Afrifa said after the court ruling, referencing the police’s initial effort to block the demonstration.
The decision to withdraw the case has been spun by government representatives as evidence of their commitment to constitutional freedoms.
Deputy Attorney General, Justice Srem-Sai, in a Facebook post, hailed the withdrawal as a sign that the Mahama-led government “understands the true meaning of the right to demonstrate.”
He posted: “The right to demonstrate is protected by the Constitution. President John Mahama understands the true meaning of that right. His Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, will not violate or allow anyone to violate the citizen’s right to demonstrate.”
Yet critics have swiftly challenged this narrative, accusing the government of an after-the-fact public relations exercise.
Legal analysts and civil society commentators argue that the police only retreated after realizing their court action was procedurally flawed and faced inevitable failure.
Critics point out that the demonstrators were ambushed with court papers at a meeting with police officers at the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, an act many have described as an intimidation tactic.
The organizers were served the court documents at 11:23 am on April 24, 2025, with a court appearance scheduled for the very next morning—a move some legal experts argue violated due process norms requiring three clear days for a party to respond after service.
Furthermore, critics questioned why, despite the Easter judicial break, special arrangements were made to secure a hearing on such short notice, suggesting that the police—and by extension, the government—were determined to scuttle the protest by any means necessary.
Legal minds say it became obvious that the police’s application was procedurally incompetent: they had failed to apply for an abridgment of time, a necessary step if they expected an accelerated hearing.
Recognizing the inevitability of a court embarrassment, the Attorney General’s office withdrew the case.
“The withdrawal was a tactical retreat, not an act of respect for citizens’ rights,” one of the organizers’ lawyers told journalists after the court session. “They knew they were going to lose.”
The protest on Monday is expected to draw hundreds of participants demanding an intensified and transparent crackdown on illegal mining activities.
Organizers have insisted that the demonstration will remain peaceful but uncompromising in its message: that political complicity and weak enforcement mechanisms must end if Ghana’s environmental future is to be saved.
This latest controversy comes amid broader tensions around civic freedoms in Ghana, with activists warning that the government must not weaponize administrative procedures to stifle legitimate dissent.
However, the first demonstration to hit the Mahama second term in government.
