The Ellembelle Constituency Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have called the bluff of the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, over a petition he had forwarded to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the death of one Andrew Donkor, a polling station executive of the party.
The Constituency Executives, who are incensed over the petition, say if the MP had sought counsel from the District Chief Executive (DCE) and traditional authorities in the area, he would have given a second thought to what they see as a needle petition, and playing politics with the death of the said polling station executive.
Andrew Donkor, 35, was allegedly killed by security men manning the concession of Adamus Resources, a mining firm operating at Nkroful, when they clashed with the youth of the area.
The death incensed the youth, and it had to take the intervention of police to restore calm in the area. The incident happened on April 1, 2022.
Following the death of the young man, the MP filed a petition to CHRAJ demanding an investigation to unravel the cause of death of the deceased.
In the petition dated April 24th, 2022, filed on behalf of the MP, the latter was demanding CHRAJ to investigate the death of the 35 year old man, considering that the 1992 Constitution guaranteed right to life.
He said the right to life was not only guaranteed under the Constitution, but also under international laws, of which Ghana was a signatory.
However, addressing a news conference at Essiama, the Ellembelle Constituency Chairman of the party, Sampson Ndoli, said the MP’s petition to CHRAJ smacked of politics. “He is playing politics to score cheap political points over the death of a young man, and this is very unfair. So far as we remain executives, we will not allow the MP play politics over a painful death.”
According to the Constituency Chairman, if the MP had cared to know the reason for which the clash occurred which led to the young man losing his life, he would not have filed the petition with the intent to score cheap political point.
Chairman Ndoli told journalists that the reason the clash occurred was hinged on unavailability of jobs for the youth in the area. Consequently, they decided to mine an abandoned pit said to belong to the mining company.
“Armah Buah has been MP for four consecutive terms, and he has failed to help the youth secure descent jobs, but he finds it pleasant to petition CHRAJ to investigate [the] death of a deceased over job issues.”
Flanked by other Constituency Executives, Chairman Ndoli told the media that following the clash, the DCE, Kwasi Bonzo, and the traditional authorities had been able to broker peace between the youth and the mining company over the said pit, and the latter had agreed to lease part of its concession for community mining.
“This is what the DCE and traditional leaders have been able to do for the youth, and if Armah Buah had cared to seek counsel from the DCE, he would not have taken steps to petition CHRAJ to investigate [the] death.”
