A communications member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwesi Botchwey Junior, was fact-checked for making unsubstantiated claims during a live edition of TV3’s New Day on September 24, 2024.
Speaking about the aftermath of the arrest of protesters against illegal mining, Kwesi Botchwey alleged that 10 patients died due to road blockages at the entrance of the 37 Military Hospital, caused by some protesters, while commending the police for their actions.
According to him, the protesters did not exhibit any democratic behavior following the violence and chaos that occurred during the protest, while accusing the police of being lenient with those who were arrested.
“I think that the police have even been lenient with the demonstrators because in my opinion, there was nothing democratic about the demonstration that was organised over the weekend. If you block the entrance to a major referral hospital, the 37 Military Hospital, and I have read on Twitter (now X) that so far, about 10 people have died as a result of the blockage of the main entrance of the 37 Military Hospital,” he claimed.
Asked by the host, Berla Mundi, where he sourced that information from, Kwesi Botchwey responded saying “It was coming from the Ghana Ambulance Service and the person [that shared the information] works with the Ghana Ambulance Service.”
However, debunking the claims made by Kwesi Botchwey on the same show during a phone interview, the Deputy Director of Public Relations at the Ghana Ambulance Service, Simmons Yussif Kewura, stated that no deaths were recorded as speculated.
Simmons Kewura, however, acknowledged that the roadblocks created by the protesters posed challenges, resulting in delays in transporting patients to the hospital.
He praised the police service for ensuring their smooth passage without any issues.
“As far as national ambulance service is concerned, we haven’t received anything of that nature or recorded any information about 10 deaths or even a single death in an ambulance because of the blockage by the demonstrators. So, I want to make it clear we haven’t received [any report].
“… although there were chaotic movements of vehicles since they weren’t moving faster the way we wanted it,” he added.
Asked if the road blockage by the demonstrators led to the delay in transporting patients to the hospital, he responded saying “yes, that is a fact. They blocked it but the police were able to do their work and managed to get us through. We haven’t recorded a single death.”
The 3-day protest organised by the Democracy Hub aimed to highlight the menace of illegal mining polluting several water bodies in parts of the country, as well as issues of bad governance and the economic hardships under the ruling government.
Forty-three individuals, including the lead convener of Democracy Hub, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, have been arrested for their alleged involvements in lawless acts.
Subsequently, 39 of them have been remanded for two weeks.
Watch the video of Kwesi Botchwey making the claim and the video of Simmons Kewura debunking the claim below:
The police overpampered the #ReOccupyJubileeHouse protestors – Kwesi Botchway Jnr #TV3NewDay pic.twitter.com/9C2cFRDuYp
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) September 24, 2024
