The Ghana Police Service at a news conference on Monday, October 2, announced that it would allow the #OccupyBoG protesters to march as far as the National Lottery Authority and make a U-turn towards the Independence Square where they are to terminate their procession.
The Service justified this decision by insisting that the area beyond the National Lottery Authority, particularly the Bank of Ghana premises, is a security zone and so allowing such a large procession into the vicinity could potentially pose a risk to national security.
While the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson disagrees with the position of the police, he says the NDC will respect that boundary.
He, however, expects that the police will allow the Minority leadership and Members of Parliament to march into the Central Bank to present their petition to Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison.
Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Monday, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said, “Our position is that since they are claiming that that is the beginning of the security zone, the protesters may end there. But the leadership of parliament must be allowed into the central bank to present our petition.”
The NDC is seeking the immediate resignation of the Governors of the Bank of Ghana for what it describes as the gross mismanagement of Ghana’s fiscal space significantly contributing to the bankruptcy of the bank and the resultant worsening economic conditions in the country.
According to Dr. Forson, should the October 3 protest fail to produce the expected results, the Minority will embark on other measures to get the central bank managers out of office.
“This is the first of a series of actions that we are going to take. We may repeat the demonstration. We may begin processes in parliament that will remove the Governor and the deputies. So, let’s start from tomorrow [Tuesday] and let’s see what happens,” he said.
According to the Police Director of Public Affairs, ASP Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the Minority has reached an agreement with the police on the route for the protest.
“Per our agreement with the Minority, the demonstrators will converge at Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and proceed to Adabraka to Ridge Roundabout, National Theatre Traffic Light, High Court Traffic Light to Atta Mills Highway and make a u-turn at the National Lottery and terminate at the Independence Square,” ASP Ansah-Akrofi indicated.
But the Minority Leader, Ato Forson, speaking on Top Story said the group has not exactly agreed with the route as claimed by the police.
The Police administration has also announced some major roadblocks to vehicular traffic as part of the protest.
ASP Grace Ansah-Akrofi said “the road from the Independence Square in front of the National Lotteries towards the old Parliament House will be blocked temporarily to vehicular traffic during the demonstration.”
The police noted that, the blocked road will “be diverted to the Starlets traffic light through the Ministry traffic light to pass in front of the Office of Department of Urban Roads, through the National Lotteries to link up with the AMA road to EOCO, to take a detour back to the John Evans Atta Mills Highway at the old Parliament traffic intersection.”
It has, however, assured commuters that the Motor Traffic and Transport Department, MTTD, would be deployed to assist the motoring public.
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