The Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD-Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, has criticised the Ghana Police Service (GPS) over the arrest of a suspect accused of making false claims about illegal small-scale mining (galamsey).
Prof. Prempeh, who also chairs the Constitutional Review Committee, said the police are “wasting scarce resources” on political defamation matters that should be resolved through civil processes. He argued that the nation’s limited security resources must instead be directed toward fighting the escalating environmental crisis posed by galamsey.
The criticism follows the arrest of Wendell Nana Yaw Yeboah, Head of Mobilisation for the civil society group Democracy Hub, on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.
Prempeh’s Charge: Misuse of State Resources
Reacting in a Facebook post, Prof. Prempeh questioned why the police were involving themselves in disputes over personal reputation when Ghana is confronted with what he described as an existential environmental threat.
He maintained that such arrests amount to a “complete waste of scarce resources,” noting that any public official who feels defamed has adequate civil remedies available under Ghana’s legal system, which abolished criminal libel years ago.
“Why 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,” he wrote.
Prof. Prempeh also challenged what he sees as selective enforcement by the police.
“Will 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.”
The Real Threat: Environmental Devastation
His comments draw attention to what he says is a glaring imbalance in state priorities. Illegal mining is estimated to have contaminated a large share of Ghana’s major water bodies, with dangerous chemicals such as mercury and cyanide posing severe public health and economic risks.
Prof. Prempeh argues that the police’s time, logistics, and intelligence efforts—already constrained by limited funding—should be deployed toward combating galamsey to protect the country’s environment and long-term wellbeing, rather than focusing on the reputations of public office holders who have viable civil legal pathways for redress.
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