Needless provocation from police marred a successful ‘hands off our hotels’ demo – Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu and lead convener of the “Hands of Our Hotel” demonstration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has described the protest as successful but for the needless provocation from the Ghana Police Service.

Hundreds of protestors thronged some principal streets in La to register their displeasure with the sale of the Labadi Beach Hotel.

The main objective of the protest was to exert pressure on the government to immediately halt the proposed sale of a 60 percent stake in four prominent hotels owned by SSNIT to Rock City Hotel Limited, owned by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong.

Even though the protest was peaceful with no casualties, the North Tongu MP believes the police demonstrated bad faith and intimidated demonstrators with pepper spray and tear gas.

Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah, Mr. Ablakwa said “The police demonstrated bad faith and I have told the regional police Commander, you don’t invite me to your office on June 12 and we agree on the route, modalities and terminating point. You told me clearly that it will end at Christ the King Parish and it was communicated to the demonstrators.”

According to the North Tongu MP, Things could really have been marred if the protestors had not demonstrated maturity in response to the unnecessary provocation by the police

“Only God knows what would have happened. I have told the police hierarchy that when we return to parliament, they will receive a nice message from us about why they demonstrated such bad faith and why they engaged in the needless provocation”, Mr. Ablakwa added.

Mr Ablakwa further added that the minority will use parliamentary processes to demand accountability from the Ghana Police Service.