A group of Ghanaians planning to embark on a massive demonstration for three days beginning June 4 have written to the Accra Regional Police Command to permit them to wield weapons and bring their security for protection during the demonstration.
The converters of the demonstration are broadcasters Captain Smart, Okatakyie Afrifa, and Oliver Vomawor.
The letter written to Police said the ” Format: The demonstration will entail both a procession and eventual picketing at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, The Police Headquarters, and Flagstaff House for three days starting from 4th June 2022″.
The letter added “We will bring our own security company to protect demonstrators. All weapons held by demonstrators or by the contracted security personnel will be for personal protection only; and all weapons will be duly permitted by the Arms and Ammunitions Act, 1972
(NRCD 9)”
Below is the full letter
We write concerning Section 1 of the Public Order Act (Act 491), which provides that any person who desires to hold any special event within the meaning of that Act in any public place shall notify the Police of their intention not less than 5 days before the date of the special event. Under this, we wish to notify the police that:
a) We will hold be holding a three-day demonstration starting on 4th June 2022 from 6:00am.
b) Significance of the Date: The Day June 4th Marks a significant turning point in our political history where the Military government was overthrown to prepare the country for the return to democratic governance in 3 Months.
It is a date significant for emphasizing the values of ethical political leadership and for demanding probity and accountability at a time when such values had dimmed in Ghanaian political life. We consider this date for the above historical reasons is vital to what we want our demonstration to express. As such requiring us to change the date will gravely and unjustifiably interfere with our freedom of expression.
c) Purpose and Motivations of Organizers: We believe that the conditions that precipitated the June 4th overthrow of the military
The government is not only present today but has gotten worse. Today, the 4thRepublic has been taken over by thieves. Rather than prevent the plunder of the treasure through the law, they plunder the state and use the law and police violence
to shield themselves from accountability. There is no rot in every institution, and those who speak up against wrong are now victimized by an abused French Economist, Journalist & Statesman Frederic Bastiat- who once wrote that “Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons, and soldiers at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim – when he defends himself – as a criminal”-
1. Culture of Silence
Over the past few years, we have witnessed a militarization of the public space; and the use of violence to clamp down on critical voices of the regime. Journalists and social justice activists have been at the end of abuse, unwarranted arrests, and unlawful detentions.
Even when persons of high moral repute have called on the Government to be watchful of the slide into authoritarianism, they have been ridiculed and shut down by government appointees including the President.
All avenues for holding leadership to account or opposing the entrenchment of a political culture that is permissive to misgovernance and holds our democracy hostage, have been closed. In its please fear-mongering and abuse of individual liberties have become the order of the day.
2. Arrogance of Power
Persons in positions of power flout the law with impunity. There are no repercussions for criminal conduct; abuse of power; and even death.
The president of the land has even weaponized the national security to stage a robbery against a private citizen. Persons appointed to the Office of the President were caught on video accepting bribes with no repercussions. There is zero incentive, desire, or even care to apply the law faithfully and to treat all persons as equally subject to the law.
Despite the dire economic situation, there is illegally acquired affluence displayed with impunity by the political class. Any person heading an anti-corruption institution who dares question blatant theft by the President and his appointees has been hounded from office like Yao Domelevo.
3. The E-Levy
Despite widespread opposition to the blatant theft that is the E-levy, Government ignored citizen opposition to the theft and bulldozed its way illegally to pass the E-Levy.
As it has become clear; this is a government that must have its way at all costs; and if they don’t, they have the unconstitutional audacity to invade Parliament with the military just because they lost a vote. As with their practice, even when Parliament did not have the quorum, they forced a law to impose theft on poor and working-class people in this country.
4. Agyapa Deal
Emboldened by how often and how the regime and its cronies get away with theft and by how much, the regime has cooked up an even more obnoxious scam to separate this Country from its Gold revenue, by proposing to sell almost 76 percent of Ghana’s future receipts from gold royalties to a special corporate vehicle in the British overseas territory of Jersey – a known tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction.
Every civic-minded Ghanaian, civil society, and international actor has spoken against the former Attorney General considered that deal unconscionable, and advised the regime that the deal jeopardizes Ghana’s sovereignty over its mineral resources, including opening the State up for potential liability, the President sacked her.
When the former Special Prosecutor investigated the deal, he noted that the deal was ridden with corruption and ultimately concluded that the President himself was the master serpent of corruption.
The attempt to hand over this country’s sovereignty over its mineral resources reintroduces colonialism through the backdoor, and shows the extent to which the current political class will go to satisfy their corrupt cravings; even in times of economic desperation.
5. Achimota Forest Land Grab
We are witnessing unbridled greed now spill over into competition for all state property including even grabbing Accra’s only forest cover. Greed knows no limits. Achimota forest land grab is further proof that our Republic is being held hostage by kleptomaniacs.
6. Rise in Extra-Judicial Killings.
We are witnessing an increase in police brutality, abductions, and extra-judicial killings by state security forces, including by the Military and the Ghana Armed Forces. Young
Ghanaians are being killed at an alarming rate by the State security establishment. Police routinely shoot live ammunition into crowds of unarmed protestors, killing and maiming them without just cause.
We are witnessing the weaponizing of fear and the deliberate killing of citizens to cow citizens into subjects and to cause people to be afraid of holding the State to account. We are concerned that our democracy has been brought dangerously close to a military overthrow as we are witnessing in the subregion. All this has come about because of a regime that is so disinterested in preserving the rule of law and enforcing justice. For this reason and in light of the above representative examples, we have now become increasingly worried that if we do not take steps to stand up for our democracy and to show that our democracy has the mechanisms and the tools to reform itself democratically, we may be opening the door to military adventurism that could lead to an overthrow of our democracy.
We stand together now to demand a true Democracy, where leadership is held to account, where the Officials in the State are not operating with a criminal conspiracy mindset to rape the nation blind. We want a democracy worthy of its name. We want the reforms of what has become a sub-standard democracy to create a true democracy that is based on empathy and respect for Ghanaian Lives.
d) Format: The demonstration will entail both a procession and eventual picketing at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, The Police Headquarters, and Flagstaff House for three days starting from 4th June 2022.
We will bring our own security company to protect demonstrators. All weapons held by demonstrators or by the contracted security personnel will be for personal protection only, and all weapons will be duly permitted by the Arms and Ammunitions Act, 1972 (NRCD 9)
e) Proposed route and destination: We expect that the Demonstrators will gather at Circle. The procession will move from Circle to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, where the Protestors will make a demand a slot on GTV to speak directly to the Nation and layout our grievances, by Article 55(11), which guarantees the fair opportunity for Ghanaians to present their programs to the public through equal access to the state-owned media.
From there, we will march on to the Police Headquarters to demand to speak to the Inspector General of Police and present an oral petition against the Extra-Judicial Killings by the Police and the Robberies being committed by members of the Police Force.
From there, we will march on to the Flag Staff House where we will occupy the front lawns of the House till Monday 6th June at 9:00 pm. We intend to respect the law and ensure the maximum commitment to the 1992 Constitution.
Signed:
The Organizers
1. Okatakyie Afrifa Mensah
2. Captain ‘Godsbrain’ Smart
3. Benjamin Darko benjamin@ghfixthecountry.org
Lawyer for the Organizers
1. Oliver Barker-Vormawor, legal@ghfixthecountry.org
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
