Ghana: Minority Defers Demo to Sept 12

The Minority in Parliament has postponed its planned protest to press home its demand for the removal of the Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, and his deputies from office.

The postponement from September 5 to 12 is due to a scheduled court hearing for an injunction filed by the Ghana Police Service on Wednesday, August 30, against the intended protest.

A statement issued by the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, in Accra yesterday said the routes of the march remained the same.

“The court was unable to give an instant ruling due to the weight of the preliminary legal objections raised by the lawyers for the Minority in Parliament, and requested the indulgence of the Minority to give its ruling on Friday, September 8, 2023.

“The legal objections raised today were as a result of the incompetent processes filed in court by the Ghana Police Service seeking to restrain the protest along the routes proposed by the Minority and its broad coalition of civil society groups,” it said.

The statement reassured supporters that the protest would proceed once the court delivers its verdict.

“We wish to call on Ghanaians to remain resolute in the fight to protect our constitutional right to demonstrate and hereby assure them that the march to the Bank of Ghana Head Office will certainly take place on Tuesday, September 12, 2023,” the NDC statement said.

Slated for Tuesday, September 5, the group had sought to march from the frontage of Parliament House – Osu Cemetery Traffic Light – Ministry of Finance – High Court Complex – Kinbu – Makola – Rawlings Park – Opera Square – Bank of Ghana.

The protest march is to call for the resignation of Governor Ernest Addison and his two deputies as a result of their alleged mismanagement of the Central Bank which has occasioned a loss of GH¢60.8 billion and a negative equity of GH¢55.1 billion; illegal printing of over GH¢80 billion.

The march is also to register their displeasure over the building of a head office at the cost of over $250 million when the Public Procurement Authority initially recommended $81 million.

However, the police argued that the area is often overcrowded with human and vehicular traffic and thus going by that route could distort public order, safety and the running of essential services.

Instead, the police had proposed an alternative route starting from Parliament House through the Osu Cemetery Traffic Light to end at Independence Square, which the minority rejected.

In court on Friday, the MPs, under the leadership of NDC’s Director of Legal Affairs, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, stressed that the police did not have the right to propose alternative routes for the group.

Mr Tamakloe told the court that according to Article 88(5) of the 1992 Constitution and the State Proceedings Act, only the Attorney General has the authority to institute such actions.