Protestor who destroyed Bawumia’s posters at National Cathedral site arrested

The convenor of the #FixtheCountry Movement, who was captured in a viral video damaging posters of New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has reportedly been arrested by the Ghana Police Service.

According to Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a former lead convenor of the #FixtheCountry Movement, Ralph St Williams, known widely as Fellow Ghanaians, has been arrested at the Kotoka International Airport while en route to Kumasi.

Barker-Vormawor, in a post shared on X on Thursday, September 19, 2024, indicated that Fellow Ghanaians was travelling to Kumasi to mobilise activities as part of the preparatory works for Democratic Hub’s #SayNoToGalamsey demonstration, scheduled for Saturday, September 20, 2024, when he was arrested.

He stated that even though the accused person might have been arrested because of the vandalisation of the posters during the National Democratic Congress’s ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration against the Electoral Commission of Ghana, they believe that his arrest is part of efforts to sabotage the #SayNoToGalamsey protest.

“It appears that Ralph’s arrest stems from his peaceful participation in Tuesday’s ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration, where he highlighted government mismanagement by opening the National Cathedral pit, a site that has already cost Ghana 58 million cedis, for symbolic swimming.

“We believe this arrest has been strategically timed to suppress his participation in the upcoming #SayNoToGalamsey protest and to intimidate activists fighting for transparency and environmental justice,” Barker-Vormawor wrote.

He added, “We strongly condemn this act and demand Ralph’s immediate release. Furthermore, we insist on an official apology from the authorities for this blatant attempt to silence critical voices. We will be sending a formal petition to the Inspector General of Police to address this situation.”

About the viral video:

The FixtheCountry convener was captured on video destroying cover boards displaying Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s posters at the National Cathedral site during the ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.

The activist, identified as Ralph St. Williams, expressed his anger over the amount of money allocated by the government for the National Cathedral project, only for them to construct a pit and abandon the project. The sight of one of the pits, which had collected water from the rains and turned into a swimming pool, infuriated him even more.

In the video, which has since gone viral on X, the protester could be seen removing several covering boards used as a barricade to prevent encroachers or unauthorised persons from invading the site.

Despite some protesters’ calls for him to desist, the activist persisted. According to him, it is an insult for the site to be used as a party dumpsite and for campaign posters to be displayed there.

He further questioned why the government would spend $58 million on a project with nothing to show for it.

“We need to remove all these posters. We are a mad nation; that’s why some people have turned this site into a party campaign area. This is the so-called National Cathedral, and this isn’t even about politics. This is how they’ve used state funds. We have removed the boards to make the place easily accessible for all Ghanaians to see what is happening. If the police want, they can try to arrest us for destroying state property, and I will question anyone who comes if they have arrested the contractor I personally saw destroying the road,” he fumed.

Not even the police assigned to the protesters, directing traffic around the construction site, could prevent the furious activist from achieving his goal of destroying Dr. Bawumia’s posters.

Meanwhile, the boards that were destroyed were fixed in less than 24 hours after the destruction.

See Barker-Vormawor’s post and the viral video below: