CJA Called Off Jubilee Procession

PRESSMEN LAST Monday had a disappointing and baffling experience at the Police Headquarters when they were asked by the Interior Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah to go out of the conference room since he (Minister) wanted to hold the talks behind closed doors, stating, "with this occasion, I will probably consider it advisable if we were to have the press to excuse us so we can talk".

Reason for the meeting according to the Interior Minister, was to see how best "we can resolve the differences". "Can we talk over the issues? Can we find a way of resolving so that it doesn't become necessary for any procession?"

Meanwhile, the CJA Convener, Kyeretwie Opoku poured out his heart, saying, "I am sure you are aware, as regards to the logistics, we gave the Police a four-month notice of our intentions and we believed that was sufficient time for them to respond to us and have a discussion about those issues".

He went ahead to say that, what happened in practice was that they waited to the last end and then took court action, obviously with their intention of stopping "us from our procession".

As to how the case could be resolved outside court, the Convener said they had a very simple solution, which was for the Police to turn out on the day of procession and "provide the support as they were required to provide under the Constitution and under Public Order Act", to allow "us to have a peaceful procession and celebrate 50th anniversary like any other group of Ghanaians".

He said if that was possible then there was really no need for any long discussion, "it solves everything and everybody is happy; there is no discomfort for anybody".

The Minister stated emphatically that, "well I wanted the press to cover the opening statement and I think that has been done", "We will be available to be interviewed outside the discussions. I think we will provide for frank discussion later on", he pointed out.

The conference, which was held on the 5th floor of the Headquarters building, brought together the IGP, Mr. P.K. Acheampong and some Senior Police Officers, the Interior Minister-Albert Kan-Dapaah and high ranking members of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA); Kyeretwie Opoku, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Ama Benyiwaa Doe, Ato Ahwoi, Bernard Monnah, among others.

After several hours of talks behind closed doors, no single person was able to brief the press, who were asked to wait outside, exactly what transpired up there in the conference room.

Kwesi Pratt's simple words were "it is very, very delicate" and that the public would be briefed at "our press conference at the Insight office at 7:30pm", that same Monday.

Upon being tossed here and there for sometime by the Police, Acting Director of Public Relations, DSP. Kwesi Ofori also described the scenery as "very, very delicate" and did not disclose the content of the agreement, saying the CJA would come out with its statement.

A follow-up by The Chronicle's reporter to the 7:30 pm press conference by the CJA indicated that the discussion covered basically the logistical difficulties that the Police allegedly face in supporting the people's procession yesterday, hence the impossibility for the Police to provide protection for the procession.

"We responded by saying that we have given the Police a whole month notice in order to allow them to address logistical constraints and that they have failed in that one month period to do so", the Convener emphasized.

He stated, "they have not offered any substantive or good fate engagement with us" rather they have been on the media, making "what amounted to political statements and also issuing threats about what might happen to us if we proceeded with the procession".

Therefore, "we indicated that we found it difficult to accept that the real reason for the Police resistance was the question of logistics and if that was the position then we intended to go ahead and we did not believe that we needed any protection".

"So we were not threatening or being threatened by anybody", noting, the only time "we have had problems for security in one of our marches, it was instigated by the Police themselves".

He continued that, the Minister then raised the issue of legal position and as "you are aware, the 1st March, the Police applied to the High Court and got an order restraining us".

"The next day on the 2nd March, we applied to the High Court to review its decision", stressing the Judge turned down "our application and reaffirmed his earlier order".

Moreover, on Monday the CJA filed an appeal against the High Court's decision; "we also filed a stay of execution", an order which said until the appeal has been determined, the old order could not be enforced.

Thus, "the Police have no legal right now to prevent us from embarking on a procession. Indeed under the law, the Police are required to turn out and provide support for that procession. It is there in the Public Order Act; it is also a constitutional duty of the Police".

He said the Minister showed that their legal advice about the impact of the application for a stay of execution was different and as far as they were concerned, the regional court order was still on course.

At the technical level "we will go ahead with the procession in terms of the constitutional right issues".

He noted also that the Minister suggested that a legalistic approach was not the best way to handle this matter as citizens who wanted the best for the country but rather, "we should sit down and discuss what options we would achieve that would mutually be satisfactory".

In the end, both parties reconsidered their positions; the CJA would not go on the intended procession as scheduled but would hold a public meeting at the Sea View Hotel in Accra yesterday in order to pay tribute to those who led the independence of the country, hinting the procession would still come off somewhere next week.