Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, has disclosed that the petition intended for the House by the #Fixthecountry protestors were shredded into pieces by protestors when they were presented with the opportunity to present it.
According to him, when the time came for the protestors to present their petition, there was chaos among themselves when leaders of the House requested for the petition.
“Mr. Speaker, when we gave them the opportunity to come with ten people, it ended in confusion, such that the petition that they were holding, they shredded it into pieces. No petition was presented to us and that is why I am surprised that the Minority Leader is saying that the petition was about the e-levy withdrawal”.
Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu
Earlier, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, disclosed to the Speaker that the petition was asking for the withdrawal of the proposed e-levy from the 2022 budget. However, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah counteracted the claim by Haruna Iddrisu, expressing his shock over the fact that none of them set eyes on the petition and its content.
“It would rather appear to me that he was part of composing the petition that the fix the country people wanted to present to us. The petition never came to us. It was shredded into pieces and you come to Parliament and you are saying that it was about e-levy withdrawal, how did you know?”
Haruna Iddrisu
The claim made by the Majority leader over protestors shredding the petition was however rejected by one of the lead conveners of the Fixthecountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor. He then took to Facebook and posted a photo of the petition and expressed that the Majority Leader’s claim that they “gave us the chance” to present the petition, and the protestors “tore it up” instead in front of him was untrue.
“Is this the same petition? Our Republic thrives on lies and lack of integrity!”
Oliver Barker-Vormawor
Protestors express disappointment in government
Prior to this, the angry protestors who went to submit their petition engaged in near fisticuffs with the police over the number of persons permitted to submit the petition. Reacting to this, the leader of the Economic Fighters League, Ernesto Yeboah decried the situation alleging a lack of integrity on the path of the police in the circumstances.
“They told us, that if we were less than 500, they would allow all of us into the house. We’ve tried as much as possible to produce a number even less than 300, and we’re still here. So when we say ‘Fix The Country’, it is also an integrity question. How many of us have the integrity to stand by our words?”.
Ernesto Yeboah
Another protester, revealed that as a human rights activist who believes in demonstrations and has participated in many, President Akufo-Addo could have intervened by speaking to the relevant persons to grant them entry to present their petition.
“Akufo-Addo has disrespected Ghana for so long. In fact, wherever Akufo-Addo is, he knows that this demonstration is going on; and he could have placed a phone call to the Speaker of Parliament or whoever it is. That my fellow Ghanaians are out there demonstrating. They’re pouring out their grievances. Go and listen to them”.
protester
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