#OccupyBoG demo: NDC MPs file affidavit to oppose police injunction

The Minority caucus in parliament has filed its affidavit to oppose the Greater Accra Regional Police Command’s injunction application against their planned protest against the Bank of Ghana Governor and his deputies.

The affidavit was filed by their lawyers on Friday, September 1, at the registry of the Accra High Court.

The Greater Accra Regional Police Command on Wednesday filed for an injunction against the Minority’s proposed routes for the protest.

The NDC MPs are seeking to march on Tuesday, September 5, from Makola, through Rawlings Park and Opera Square to the frontage of the Bank of Ghana.

The march is aimed at getting the Bank of Ghana Governor and his two deputies to resign from office due to the over GH¢60.8 billion losses the central bank recorded in 2022.

However, the police argue that the route is often overcrowded with human and vehicular traffic, thus going by that route could endanger public order, public safety and the running of essential services.

They had proposed an alternate route starting from Parliament House through the Osu Cemetery Traffic Light to end at Independence Square, which the Minority rejected.

The injunction, which will be heard on September 4 is to prevent the Minority from using their preferred route.

Already, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has slammed the police for the move.

He described the police action as a “breach of trust” and expressed utter disappointment in their conduct.

“We received a letter on Wednesday from the Ghana Police Service accompanied by a bailiff from the Accra High Court who served a notice or motion for an order to prohibit our Bank of Ghana protest, and we must say that we are very disappointed with this development which is an attempt to scatter the protest which is intended to hold the Governor and his deputies accountable for their mismanagement of the bank which resulted in an unprecedented and colossal loss of GH¢60.8 billion, an amount which has had serious consequences on the economy and pushed close to one million Ghanaians into poverty”.

“And let us assure the people of Ghana that, as representatives, we will keep our sacred duty and we will uphold the public interest in line with our constitutionally guaranteed right to publicly protest, and we want to assure the people of Ghana that we have resolved to embark on this protest and nothing will stop us” he noted.

Speaking in an interview in Accra, the Bawku Central MP Mahama Ayariga insisted that their demonstration poses no security threat to the public.

He added that the police has demonstrated bad faith as they have been engaging them throughout their plan for the protest.

“A very good law can be used injuriously by very bad people. The Public Order Act as the name suggest is to ensure public order, but please you need to establish that there is a real threat and this is a protest march that we have not heard one single Ghanaian say that they are going to challenge the protesters with a counter demonstration, so there is really no threat” he emphasized.