Some members of the Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold say they will later today, Tuesday present a petition to the Presidency despite a decision by the police not to protect them during their planned walk, in Accra.
The police in a letter on Monday denied the request by the customers for police protection ahead of the intended action on the basis that the service is concentrating on combatting robberies and other violent crimes in Accra.
But some of the customers who were at the Madina Magistrate Court on Tuesday during the hearing of their case say they will march to the Jubilee House after the court case to present the petition to the President.
“If anything is wrong with the citizens, we have to go to the first gentleman. We went to NAM1’s house and they [the police] told us that we went there unlawfully. The reason we went there was that NAM1 is owing us and we heard that he is paying so we had to go and ask him about when he was paying us. But they took us to police CID and we wrote our statement. But we want the first gentleman of the land to know the main reason why we went to Trassaco. By all means, we have to petition the President because he is the whole nation’s father. People are dying and we won’t wait for our lives to be cut short because of one person,” one customer lamented.
“We will be going despite what the police are saying. It is their responsibility to protect us. So if they feel that we are not important, we are going to protect ourselves. We will be going to the Jubilee House no matter how the case will be. We shall be there today,” another gentleman insisted.
At the court
Meanwhile, the 92 customers of Menzgold Ghana Limited facing trial for the offences of unlawful entry and offensive conduct to the breach of peace are at the Madina Magistrate court waiting for their case to be called.
They were charged after Nana Appiah Mensah who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the gold dealership firm made a complaint at the police after the customers besieged his residence at Trasaco on January 8 to demand their locked up investments.
The customers who had travelled from Kumasi and Tarkwa for the hearing say they are hopeful Nana Appiah Mensah will make an appearance in court.
One of them, Stephen Ampofo expressed anger while speaking to Citi News.
“Today I feel I can get him here to attack him personally. I am here with my documents. He should collect the documents and pay me so that everything will end else there will be a problem. If he steps here, he should go through all my documents and pay me so that it will end and then I will not worry him again. He thinks he has laid a good foundation for his generation but it is rather a curse. If he doesn’t know, it is rather a curse,” he fumed.
An organizer of the Coalition, Seth Narh Teye also expressed frustration at the decision by the court not to allow the customers close to the premises of the court.
The customers have been asked to sit some 70 meters away from the courthouse to wait for the case to be called.
“It is rather unfortunate. The state said we should come to the court and we are here and they’ve asked us to come and stand under the sun. We are distressed already. We have sick people among us who don’t have money for the hospital and at the end of the day, you make us stand under the sun. We think the court has not been fair to us. So we can decide to leave because they are not ready to accommodate us. But because we believe in the Rule of Law, we are going to stay here no matter what and make sure that they attend to us before we go back home,” Mr. Teye noted.
Background
The case involving the 92 Menzgold customers who stormed the residence of Nana Appiah Mensah to demand payment of their locked up funds was adjourned to today, Tuesday, January 14.
Customers who failed to appear in court were also cautioned.
Only 7, out of the many arrested appeared at the Madina Magistrate Court weeks ago, with the excuse that they were not given ample time to prepare.
Those who appeared in court pleaded not guilty to the charges against them including unlawful entry and offensive conduct to the breach of security.
Lawyer for the accused persons, Samuel Arukwei Quaye called for government’s intervention.
