The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has described as tragic the reasons given by the police for securing a court injunction to block the planned protest by the Minority against the leadership of the Bank of Ghana.
According to him, the police claimed that their move was to avert any unforeseen coup that could disrupt the country’s peace.
However, in a release, the police said that they had conducted a security assessment of the proposed routes for the protest and had concluded that it would pose a threat to public safety.
The Ghana Police Service filed an application at the court following the refusal of the Minority in Parliament to change the route for its planned protest.
The protest, which is scheduled to take place on September 5, 2023, is being organized by the Minority to protest against the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and his deputies, whom they believe have mismanaged the apex bank and should resign.
Speaking at a public forum on the collapse of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in Accra on Thursday, Mr. Ayariga said, “What I find tragic is not what the central bank has done, but to have the police tell us that we cannot protest against what the Governor has done because they are afraid that there will be a military coup tells us how low President Akufo-Addo and his government have brought us. But we will march. If the coup will happen, it will happen.”
“The real reason why we are marching is to prevent the coup. That is why whatever the police will do, we will march to send a signal to the police that we will do whatever possible to prevent the coup.”
Deputy Minority Leader Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has similarly expressed his disappointment with the Accra Police Command’s move to secure a court injunction from the High Court in order to prevent their planned protest on September 5, 2023.
During an address, he accused the police of actively trying to obstruct their planned protest.
However, he emphasized their refusal to succumb to the frustration of the police and insisted that they would go ahead with the protest march on the routes they gave to the police earlier.
“We received a letter on Wednesday from the Ghana Police Service accompanied by a bailiff from the Accra High Court who served a notice or motion for an order to prohibit our Bank of Ghana protest, and we must say that we are very disappointed with this development, which is an attempt to scatter the protest which is intended to hold the governor and his deputies accountable for their mismanagement of the bank, which resulted in an unprecedented and colossal loss of GH¢60.8 billion, an amount which has had serious consequences on the economy and pushed close to one million Ghanaians into poverty.”
“Let us assure the people of Ghana that, as representatives, we will keep our sacred duty and we will uphold the public interest in line with our constitutionally guaranteed right to publicly protest, and we want to assure the people of Ghana that we have resolved to embark on this protest and nothing will stop us.”
