Police stopped #FixTheCountry demo to please Akufo-Addo - Ernesto Yeboah

Youth leader of the Economic Fighters League is alleging that the decision by the Police to stop organizers of the FixtheCountry campaign is an agenda to please President Akufo-Addo.

The Accra Regional Police Command has indicated that it cannot permit the #FixTheCountry group to embark on their intended protest.

The Police said the Covid-19 restrictions prevent them from embarking on their planned exercise.

The #FixTheCountry campaigners wrote to the Ghana Police Service to notify the law enforcement body of their intention to demonstrate on 9 May 2021 against hardships in the country.

But the Police says the group would be breaching the Covid-19 restrictions, and it would be at their own risk to do so.

But, according to the Public Relations Officer of the Regional Police Command, DSP Effia Tenge, the Public Order Act, which imposes a ban on public gatherings, especially due to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrains the Command from sanctioning the #FixTheCountry demonstration.

“The notification to the police to organise a demonstration is provided by the Public Order Act and, so, once we receive a notification from any organiser or a group of people planning on such a demonstration, what we do as a command is to invite them, sit down, we look at the letter, look at the merits of the letter on such a demonstration,” she said.

“If there’s anything the police needs to take note of and advise the group as such; whether the letter, in a way, endangers public safety; whether the police has the numbers to protect the demonstrating public; we take all these into consideration and then the police decides what action to take based on the discussions between us and the groups who are intending to embark on this demonstration,” DSP Effia Tenge further noted.

Commenting on this, Ernesto Yeboah said the reasons given by the Police make no sense because their loyalty is to the President.

He said there is an attempt to frustrate the organizers adding, the Covid-19 reason is hypocritical on the part of the Police and the ruling government.

The concerns of the Police he stressed cannot hold water because the organizers have adopted measures to ensure participants adhere to the safety protocols.

The rallies organised by political parties he added did not contribute to Covid-19 hence it makes no sense to use that to frustrate the organizers.