On September 21, the birthday of Ghana's founding president - Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, scores of young people started a planned march on a road stretch leading to the Jubilee House, seat of the presidency.
Dubbed #OccupyJulorBiHouse, they were essentially protesting the worsening economic crisis the country is plunged into while decrying the rising spate of corruption.
For many, it is interesting that despite marching to Occupy Jubilee House, the hashtag accompanying the march was #OccupyJulorBiHouse - the hashtag was also the theme of the protest.
Julor Bi, is a Ga phrase meaning 'Thief's child.' Ga is the language spoken by the dominant ethnic group in the Greater Accra Region.
It is a subtle jab at the ruling government led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the government has serially been accused of corruption by insiders and opponents.
The terminology seemed to ruffle some people especially in government with the ruling New Patriotic Party's communication chief, Eric Ahiagbah, tweeting his express disapproval of a denigration of the presidency.
“I don’t agree with the derogatory caption of the Presidency by the organizers of the demonstration, but impeding their right to peaceful assembly is an affront to democracy, plain and simple,” he stated in a tweet.
Background: The #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests:
On Day 1 (September 21) of the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests by the Democracy Hub, a group of young activists; police illegally rounded up 49 protesters who were marching to demand action on prevailing economic crisis and corruption.
The illegal arrests, especially how they were conducted by the police triggered harsh criticism of impeding the constitutional right to protest and deploying highhandedness on the part of police.
Police sent the detainees to the regional headquarters before splitting them up to about eight police stations dotted across the capital, even as colleague protesters and lawyers worked to secure bail for the illegally detained persons.
In this process, other journalists and protesters who massed up especially at the Accra Regional Command encountered some amount of police violence including shoving, forced detention, seizure of phone and in the case of other physical assault.
In their first of two statements on the day, police said the illegal arrests were justified because protesters were defying a court injunction served on them, which process they denied had been properly served.
The second statement addressed the purported arrest of a BBC journalist and his cameraman, which reportage they dismissed as untrue.
By the close of day, almost all illegally detained protesters per GhanaWeb checks had been released from illegal detention on bail, it remains to be seen whether Day Two of the three-day protest targeting the seat of government, the Jubilee House, will come off today (September 22, 2023).
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