Some 2,000 or so demonstrators comprising chiefs and opinion leaders of GaDangme descent yesterday fulfilled their alert to demonstrate against what they see the inability of government to honour its side of the commitment to revert the lands to its allodia owners if the lands so acquired were not put to their original use. Pushing against what they saw as the inability to ensure equity in the sale and distribution of the lands, the demonstrators engaged their police security in brief tussle as they marched on to the Castle to present their petition.
Water canon had to be employed to hold the crowd at bay. Beaming with a sense of achievement, the demonstrators who begun their match at the Mantse Agbona in James Town marched through the principal streets along the way through the central business capital to the ministries and stadium around which they marched twice protesting against the change of the name from Accra Sports Stadium to Ohene Djan Stadium. After all sorts of rituals, they proceeded to the Castle cross-roads from where after a hectic struggle with security officials, three leaders were permitted to go to the Castle to present their petition in the company of regional Police boss Kofi Boakye and deputy I.G in charge of operations.
The Osu cross-roads shooting incident was nearly replayed when agitated demonstrators clad in red T-shirts with banners reading NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE while others bore reflections of betrayal from some chiefs, refused vehemently to heed appeals from the security checks as men of the 64 infantry regiment were called in. But unlike the ?shoot? command of Emery, the officers of the regiment asked the soldiers to exercise restrain while diplomacy was deplored to bring the situation to normalcy.
The chairman of the legal committee of the GaDangme Council, Bright later said that the reasons for the demonstration cut across many issues affecting the indigenous people of GaDangme including the issue of language, culture, land and respect and appreciation of the hospitality of the people. He entreated government not to disregard their concerns because they ?can bite? explaining that the people had employed all the diplomacy and legal system promptings without any positive hearing, hence the need to express themselves through demonstrations.
Mr. Akwetey said any government that refused to listen to the concerns of the people would be judged by posterity, especially that government that will take the people?s land and give them to private developers as was happening in Cantonment, Roman Ridge, North Ridge and Osu enclave, all suburbs of Accra.
