The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Wassa Amenfi East, Ernest Frimpong, has been granted a police enquiry bail.
Mr Frimpong was released on Wednesday evening after providing a statement regarding his comments in a viral video.
He was detained following the circulation of a video in which he appeared to urge miners to retaliate against police officers and soldiers who attempted to extort money from them.
The Wassa Amenfi East NPP parliamentary candidate has denied these allegations, asserting that he neither endorsed illegal mining nor encouraged miners to fight military personnel.
According to Mr Frimpong, his remarks were taken out of context from a two-hour engagement with artisanal small-scale miners.
He insists his intentions were misrepresented.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Chief Executive for Wassa Amenfi East, Frederick Korankye, condemned Frimpong’s comments.
He urged miners to cooperate with security officers to eliminate illegal mining activities in the community.
Mr Korankye stressed the need to follow legal procedures for mining and advised miners to obtain the necessary documentation and permits before engaging in such activities.
“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. The land belongs to us, so we cannot look unconcerned for them to destroy it,” Mr Korankye stated.
He also highlighted the role of the military in maintaining order and assisting with security issues such as armed robbery, stressing that the community should support, not attack, the security services.
“Once in 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 call them to come and help us,” he added.