Foreign relations and security expert, Irbard Ibrahim has shot down a proposal by the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Joseph Osei Owusu that illegal miners should be gunned down to deter others from engaging in the activity.

According to Irbard Ibrahim, shooting Ghanaian youth who have been disappointed by the country due to unemployment would be a gross violation of their fundamental human rights and should not be advocated by a high profile personality like the Deputy Speaker.

Registering his displeasure in a communique, the CEO of Irbard Security Consult said, “Such charged and incendiary comments from leading national figures cheapen Ghanaian blood, and are insensitive to the plight of hundreds of thousands of stark illiterate, semi-literate and highly educated Ghanaian youth that continue to suffer from the daily drudgery of being unemployed.”

He therefore appealed to Joseph Osei Owusu to exercise restraint and caution in his prescription of capital punishment, as the best way of dealing with galamsey and other illegal activities as doing otherwise “could increase the spate of crime in Ghana which has already reached an alarming rate”.

Below is the full statement

PRESS STATEMENT

DON’T SHOOT GALAMSEYERS, PROVIDE THEM ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF LIVELIHOOD - Ibrahim Irbard

“ I humbly and courteously call on the First Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Hon Joseph Osei Wise to exercise restraint and caution in his prescription of capital punishment, as the panacea to Ghana’s illegal mining menace.

Much as I recognize the sheer level of degradation such mining activities cause our lands and water bodies, shooting Ghanaian youth who feel let down by this system would be a gross violation of their fundamental human rights that should not be advocated by a towering figure like Hon Wise in our august House of Legislature.

Such charged and incendiary comments from leading national figures cheapen Ghanaian blood, and are insensitive to the plight of hundreds of thousands of stark illiterate, semi-literate and highly educated Ghanaian youth that continue to suffer from the daily drudgery of being unemployed.

The use of brute force without accompanying alternative job opportunities in tackling Ghana’s security issues like Galamsey, cattle rearing, the land-guard system, street hawking and others could increase the spate of crime in Ghana which has already reached an alarming rate.

I call on Government to organize a broad-based stakeholder consultation including masters of industry to come out with innovative ways to end youth unemployment which poses a serious national security threat to the Republic of Ghana.”

Signed
Irbard Ibrahim
C.E.O
IRBARD SECURITY CONSULT