Ernest Frimpong, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate for the Amenfi East Constituency in the upcoming 2024 elections, has been released by the Tarkwa Police Command in the Western Region.
Mr. Frimpong was released on Wednesday evening after providing a statement regarding his controversial comments in a viral video.
The video, widely circulated on social media, allegedly shows Mr. Frimpong encouraging illegal miners (galamsayers) to retaliate against police officers and soldiers who attempt to extort money from them. These comments sparked significant backlash and led to his arrest.
Ernest Frimpong has denied the allegations, asserting that he did not endorse illegal mining or incite violence against military personnel.
He claimed that his remarks were taken out of context from a two-hour engagement with artisanal small-scale miners, emphasizing that his intentions were misrepresented.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Chief Executive for Wassa Amenfi East, Frederick Korankye, has condemned Frimpong’s comments, urging miners to cooperate with security officers to help eliminate illegal mining activities in the community.
“The government is ready to facilitate the documents for you to do your work according to the guidelines set out in the mining laws. So that is what I will plead with the miners. In fact, the land belongs to us so we cannot look unconcerned for them to destroy it the way it is.”
“So once a while, the military will come and then make sure that they do the right thing. At the beginning of every year, there are rampant armed robbery cases over here, and when it happens like that, we rely on these security services to come and assist, so we cannot be attacking them and then later come and call them to come and help us,” he said.