By Alex Boye
The New Patriotic Party Parliamentary Candidate (PC) for the Amenfi East constituency in the Western Region, Ernest Frimpong, has clarified what he meant by “when the soldiers fight you, fight back” comment which has gone viral recently.
According to Mr. Frimpong, he has been taken out of context following a slant contained in his statement that gave a twist to what he meant.
It would be recalled that a video in which Mr Frimpong was captured speaking to some people believed to be miners has gone viral and generated a huge controversy.
Speaking in the local Twi dialect to the small-scale miners, as captured, Mr Frimpong was heard advising them to resist “soldiers, police and national security operatives” at their site
However, Mr Frimpong has given some further clarification following the huge public uproar and bashing the purported statement has received since the video went viral.
Mr Frimpong further explained that the purpose of the engagement with the miners was meant to educate them on the rules and regulations governing small-scale mining activities in the country.
He added “The Western Regional Minister also did not support illegal mining activities in any form been reported in the media.”
He warned against mining in prohibited areas such as forest reserves, rivers, and other people’s concessions.
Mr. Frimpong urged the miners to comply with the legal framework by obtaining the necessary permits and concessions before operating.
According to the PC, the miners were very much concerned about the spate of harassments by some individuals who frequently visited their sites to allegedly extort money from them.
He also said there have been reported cases of extortion by some unscrupulous individuals who parade themselves as soldiers, police and national security operatives who have been harassing the miners.
“Upon further investigations, it turned out that these individuals hired two Landcruiser vehicles and dressed in apparels that suggested that some of them were soldiers and policemen.
But we later noticed that they were not soldiers, police or national security operatives who have been conducting any sanctioned operations but they were there just to harass, intimidate and extort money”. he disclosed.
Mr Frimpong advised the miners never to give in to such unscrupulous individuals but fiercely resist them and fight back with all their (miners) when the imposters visit.
However, his reaction has received a huge public uproar as the edited version of the video, which is in circulation, seems to suggest that he was referring to personnel of the state security.
Giving better and further clarification to the entire scenario, Mr Frimpong indicated that he has been taken out of context due to a communication gap.
The PC explained that in the course of our engagement, the miners complained bitterly about the growing threats of the aforesaid individuals who have been terrorising them on site.
“My reaction as captured in the edited video was a direct response to the concern of the miners which specifically had to do with the criminal gangs who intentionally impersonate as security personnel,” he stated.
He, therefore, cautioned the miners to be bold and fight back those corrupt police and soldiers for the safety of the work.
He stated that “If you listened to the full video which is about two hours, you will notice that I even encouraged the miners to willingly support the police and the soldiers when they come around.
“I want to emphasise and put on record that my call on the small-scale miners to fight back the soldiers and the police was never an attempt to instigate violence against the state security services” he stated.
He added that his caution was towards those illegal operatives who have been allegedly extorting money from the miners under false pretence but not to encourage the miners to attack state security personnel.
“In fact, these miners reported activities of these well-known criminal to us by way of sharing their frustrations that’s why I didn’t take the pain to elaborate on that because my audiences already understood the context,” he emphasised.
He also said, “I take full responsibility for the communication gap and accept the blame for any inconveniences the said gap might have occasioned,” he disclosed.
