Concerned Small Scale Miners president granted bail

Michael Kwadwo Peprah, the president of the Concerned Small Scale Miners Association, who was arrested by the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, has been granted bail.

This was after some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) gathered at the Nima Police Station in Accra where Peprah was being held, to demand his release.

On Saturday, August 29, Michael Kwadwo Peprah, was arrested in Kumasi for allegedly causing fear and panic with a post on his Facebook timeline. He was then transported to Accra.

According to Peprah’s lawyer, Bobby Benson, “Mr. Michael Kojo Preprah has been granted bail. The Policeman who effected the arrest from Kumasi later came to the Nima Police Station and he [Preprah] was asked to write his statement and before that, they must tell you the offence they are investigating. They said they are investigating the offence of publishing false information, and the complainant, we are told, is the Minister for Environment.”

“So he has been granted bail and we are to report tomorrow to continue,” he added.

Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC’s National Communication Officer, described Michael Kwadwo Peprah’s arrest as an intimidation by the Akufo-Addo administration.

“This morning we got information that the president of the Concerned Small Scale Miners Association of Ghana has been arrested by officers belonging to the Cybercrime Unit of the Ghana Police Service in the Ashanti Region. We understand that he was detained at the Ashanti Regional Office and this morning transported to the Nima Police Station. We’ve spoken to him and he tells us that he was arrested yesterday at 3 pm in Kumasi and was not told the reason for his arrest. His phones were seized and [he was] taken to his house and a search was conducted,” Sammy Gyamfi told Citi FM in an interview.

He continued: “We have gathered information that he was arrested over a post he made on his Facebook wall ahead of the Association’s planned press conference to compare the NPP’s manifesto and that of the NDC on the issue of small scale mining. Our sources at the Cyber Crime Unit tell us this arrest was on the orders of the Minister of Environment, Prof Frimpong Boateng who is not happy at how the association of small scale miners led by Mr. Preprah has exposed the criminal galamsey he has been supervising and we see this as clear intimidation by the Akufo-Addo administration.”

Peprah in a video available to GhanaWeb was seen interacting and posing for a group photograph with the NDC members after his release.