The Minority in Parliament has noted a deliberate attempt by the Greater Accra Regional Police Command to frustrate and scuttle our planned peaceful #OccupyBoG protest on 5th September, 2023.

This follows efforts by the Regional Police Command to injunct the protest at the High Court in Accra on Monday, 4th September, 2023, one day before the day chosen for protest.

It would be recalled that on 21st August, 2023, the Hon. Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, wrote to the police about the Minority's intention to protest on 5th September, 2023. Subsequent to this notice of public protest, the Police invited the Minority for a meeting, which meeting was honoured by the Deputy Minority Leader and four other Members of Parliament of the Minority Caucus, and some representatives from Civil Society Organisations.

Though the meeting was cordial, the Police gave flimpsy excuses as to why the organisers must change the route for the protest, including their insistence that the protest cannot terminate at the head offfice of the Bank of Ghana, which is essentially an attempt to deny the leaders of the protest an opportunity to present their petition to the Governor of the central bank.

Following this, the Police later wrote to the Minority Caucus, unilaterally and provocatively deciding a route for the protest which was not discussed at their earlier meeting with the Minority Caucus.

The Minority then wrote back to the Police Command reminding them of their constitutional duty to ensure that we protest peacefully and securely on 5th September, 2023.

Just today, at 4:05pm, we received a letter from the Ghana Police Service, accompanied by a bailiff from the High Court in Accra, who served a motion on notice for an order to prohibit our #OccupyBoG protest.

We are very disappointed in this development, as this is clearly an attempt to scuttle our protest which is intended to hold the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and his two deputies accountable for their mismanagement of the Bank which has resulted in an unprecedented and clolossal loss of GHC60.8 billion, which has had serious consequences on the economy and pushed close to a million Ghanaians into poverty.

As representatives of the people of Ghana, we will keep our sacred duty to uphold the public interest in line with our constitutionally guaranteed right to publicly protest.

Finally, we wish to assure the people of Ghana of our resolve and determination to emabark on this peaceful protest and nothing will change that!

Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah