NDC Minority waits court decision on Friday on planned protest route

The protest march planned by the leadership of the Parliamentary Minority of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other civil society organizations to the Head Office of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 5, 2023, has been rescheduled to Tuesday, September 12, 2023.  

The routes for the march remain the same. 

A statement issued by Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader explained that the change in date is the result of the outcome of proceedings in court on Monday, 4th September 2023.  

An Accra High Court has set Friday, September 8, 2023, to rule on a preliminary objection brought by the Minority on its planned protest march to BoG headquarters. 

The Ghana Police Service had given the Minority the green light but disagreed on the routes of the said demonstration.  

The minority rejected the decision of the police not to allow them use their planned route.

The Ghana Police Service therefore filed an application on August 30, 2023, to seek legal recourse over the routes selected by the Minority in Parliament for their protest march. 

A Police statement said the decision was taken in the best interest of public safety after a mutual agreement could not be reached between the police and organisers of the demonstration. 

At the High Court yesterday, Mr Godwin Edudzie Tamakloe who represented the minority informed the court that he had filed a preliminary objection in respect of the motion paper signed by Superintendent of Police Sylvester Asare, head of legal and prosecution of the Ghana Police Service. 

He argued that the motion paper of the Ghana Police Service was defective and should be struck out. 

According to him, with reference to the provisions of the State Proceedings Act, 1998, Act 555, such applications should be conducted by the Attorney General or a person authorized by him. 

Mr Tamakloe argued that Lawyer Asare was not the Attorney General (AG) or an officer authorized by him (AG). 

Countering the argument of Mr Tamakloe , Superintendent Asare stated that the Ghana Police Service could sue and be sued, and that the filing of the injunction case before the court did not invalidate the application. 

According to him, the Public Order Act clearly confirmed the mandate or jurisdiction of the Police to apply to the court for special events. 

 The organizers include Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minority leader, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Kwame Agbozda and Bernard Mornah. 

The organisers said the march will commence from the frontage of Parliament House – Osu Cemetery Traffic Light – Ministry of Finance – High Court Complex – Kinbu – Makola – Rawlings Park – Opera Square – Bank of Ghana. 

It noted that as law-abiding citizens respectful of the judiciary, the Minority had decided to reschedule its protest taking into consideration these developments.   

It said the protest march was to call for the resignation of Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of the BoG and his two deputies over GH₵60.8 billion loss resulting in negative equity of GH₵55.1 billion.

The protest is also to raise concern about construction of new BoG headquarters said to be costing $250 million.