The Police have filed an application in court over the routes selected by the Minority in Parliament for their intended demonstration at the Bank of Ghana.
A statement signed by Superintendent of Police Juliana Obeng, Head of Public Affairs Unit, Greater Accra Region, said the Police took the decision “with the best interest of public safety in mind” after a mutual agreement could not be reached between the Police and organisers of the demonstration.
The Minority in Parliament in collaboration with some others have planned to embark on a public protest dubbed: “#OccupyBoG” to call for the resignation of the Governor and Deputy Governors of the Bank of Ghana.
Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader, in a letter addressed to the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, explained that the protest was to express their “revulsion against the illegal printing of money (about GHC80 billion) between 2021 and 2022 by BoG” for the Government, which led to a hyper inflation rate of 54.1 per cent in December 2022.
He said that the “singular act of BoG” had negatively impacted livelihoods and businesses and pushed about 850,000 Ghanaians into poverty in 2022 alone.
The Minority Leader said the Minority in Parliament was totally “disgusted by the crass mismanagement and reckless mishandling of the affairs of the Bank of Ghana, which resulted in a gargantuan loss of GHC60.8 billion and a negative equity of GHC55.1 billion in 2022, with its attendant hardships on Ghanaians.”
“We are further protesting the many acts of financial malfeasance by the Governor, his Deputies and Directors of the Bank of Ghana as contained in the 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement of the Bankm,” he said.
The organisers’ proposed route for the protest is from the frontage of Parliament House, through Osu cemetery traffic light, Ministry of Finance, High Court Complex, Kinbu – Makola – Rawlings Park -Opera Square – Bank of Ghana.
The statement said following a security assessment conducted by the Police regarding the selected routes for the planned demonstration by the Minority in Parliament, it was observed that public order, public safety, and the provision of essential services may be endangered if the proposed routes were followed.
It said the organising parties were, therefore, requested to reconsider the proposed routes and destination of the protest.
The statement said regrettably, a mutual agreement on the selected routes could not be reached between the Police and the organising parties, hence the decision to go to court to determine the matter.
It assured the public that the police remained committed to providing the necessary security for individuals and groups as they exercised their constitutional right to protest.
Source: GNA