Alex Segbefia, former Minister of Health and Director of International Relations of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has stated that the Ghana Police Service has no issues with the NDC picketing the Bank of Ghana, but only a few concerns were raised about the intended route for the demonstration.
He claimed that while negotiations are still going on, the Police have not rejected the demonstration. However, he raised questions about the Police’s request for the NDC demonstration to take a different route, though.
Furthermore, he stressed that the route is crucial to the impact of the demonstration NDC wishes to have because it also enables the general public to be aware of what is happening and to participate if they so choose.
According to him, there have been times where individuals have just joined a demonstration because they have sympathy for the situations or concerns that are being brought up by that particular rally.
“So, I think that there are very few routes that will not disrupt traffic. And when the demonstration is moving, its for a certain period and then it passes and then you go into another road and move into another road. So, if it is well orchestrated by the Police, and this happened in many occasions and people are informed that there is going to be a demonstration between this hour and that hour, and you expect your people to be in and around, alternative arrangements can easily be made to ensure that we don’t have the difficulties that are being mentioned by the Police.
“Because for impact purposes and for actually getting to the particular destination, you’ll notice that the Police are asking us to go to Independence Square, yet we want to go to Bank of Ghana.”
Alex Segbefia
Moreover, he disclosed that the Police’s statement did not address one of the NDC’s demands, which is to personally deliver the party’s petition to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana.
Additionally, He stated that they planned to stop opposite the Bank of Ghana, allowing a five-member delegation to approach the building and present the petition to the BoG Governor when he steps outside, so that everyone would know that he has received their petition.
He also said that the NDC was unhappy with what happened and transpired and as such, would like him to receive their petition directly so that their demonstration could have its full impact.
Excuses Put Forward By Police Not Legitimate
Alex Segbefia asserted that history would determine whether or not the BoG and the Police would concur.
He claimed that the justifications offered by the Police about the proposed route for the demonstration were unjustified, since he thought that from Circle to the Bank of Ghana route has consistently been congested due to traffic, over the years. “So why aren’t we going to manage this one?”, he questioned.
“For me, we used to demonstrate right up to Polo club in the past and have the end of our demonstration there, which is a stone throw from the Bank of Ghana. When we used to do all of these demonstration in the recent past, there was no problem. So why is it that all of a sudden, there is a problem with using that route?
“We’ve had massive-massive demonstrations which have ended up at the Accra Polo Club opposite the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and how much distance is between there and the Bank of Ghana? So, I don’t think that excuses that have been put forward are legitimate and cannot be circumvented in other way. And so long as it starts early morning, by certain time mid-afternoon, it is over and it won’t affect the rush hour traffic in the evening. We just plead with Dr Addison to come down from the Bank of Ghana and come and collect the petition on the day that it is held.”
Alex Segbefia
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