The Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, Mustapha Gbande, during the Fix the Country vigil on 21 September 2025, threatened a protester after he kept interrupting him when he tried speaking to the demonstrators.
The Fix the Country movement converged on Revolution Square in Accra for their vigil, and scores of activists showed up to the event.
The NDC man revealed he was more rebellious than the protester, so he should stop interrupting him.
Speaking to the gathering, Mustapha Gbande stated, while being interrupted, “Your presence is felt and respected, but I am just here to draw your attention, chief. Hello, I beg you, I am talking to your colleagues. Hey, I’m more rebel than you. Stop! I beg you. We are here to talk. Don’t distract me when I am talking”.
He was, however, able to make his address, saying, “I am here to plead with you that, at least if the purpose is served, can we call it off and allow ourselves to go and rest? The President has left for the UN General Assembly”.
Mr Gbande revealed that the government will arrange for the leaders of the protesters to meet the Minister of Lands for them to be briefed on the galamsey fight.
However, the group rejected Mr Gbande’s appeals outright, hooting at him as they continued their vigil.
Some of the demonstrators stated, “Please, leave us and let us have our peaceful demonstration.”
Others could be heard hooting and shouting, “Away, Away, Away!”
According to them, the government has not done much to address the menace.
One protester said amid chants from the crowd, “If Ghanaians were convinced of what the NDC government said, we wouldn’t be here. So please leave here, let’s exercise our right in peace. NDC leaders, please leave here. We are going to send you a petition tomorrow.
We are going to engage you tomorrow, so please leave. Away! Away! No political party here. We don’t want to see any political party here. We are not here to engage any political party.”
Another stated, “Anyone mentioned in that galamsey report by Prof Frimpong-Boateng, in any serious jurisdiction, all those criminals, those thugs are supposed to be cooling off in Nsawam Prison. Stop going after those little boys in the pit. Go after the real kingpins”.
“To be honest with you, the President has disappointed us. Eight months into your government, we’ve not seen any action, but each day the Ghana Police are arresting the small boys,” one angry protester said.
“Very soon there will be no water flowing through the taps,” a protester warned.
“This protest is not about any political party or their interest, it’s about our common survival as a people. The President is becoming a disaster if he doesn’t act fast and hard on galamsey,” the protester stated.
Meanwhile, the Fix The Country Movement has threatened to declare a state of emergency if the government fails to act.
A convener expressed disappointment in the government’s response to the crisis, tagging it as weak.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, a convener of the Movement, George Aggrey stated, ““If the government says it is not time to declare a state of emergency on the galamsey, to be honest, I think it is not a good statement to make”.
“I don’t know to what extent the government wants it to get to before they see it as a state of emergency. So for me and the teeming youth that joined the protest today, what we are saying is: if the government fails to declare a state of emergency on this issue, then the youth of the land—we will declare a state of emergency”, he added.
The Fix The Country Movement protest coincided with Ghana’s Founder’s Day, with protesters holding placards and banners calling on President Mahama to defend the country’s land, water bodies, and future.
Watch the video below:
“Hey, I'm more rebel than you. Stop!”-Mustapha Gbande, threatens the Stop Galamsey demonstrators#StopGalamseyNow pic.twitter.com/btoraJ3D71
— Abdul Rauf Ibrahim (@AbdulRaufIbra20) September 22, 2025