After Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, was aggressively interrupted by a group of protesting Ghanaians in New York, Thursday, the leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reacted suggesting that he has indeed been through a lot.
“Gabby abre” he tweeted after reports were rife that he had been heckled.
A video which was circulated on social media, Thursday, shows the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Citi FM, Samuel Attah-Mensah (Sammens) and Mr. Otchere-Darko being heckled as they walked the streets of New York by some Ghanaians.
While Sammens was heckled for allegedly travelling to the USA on taxpayer’s money as a member of government’s delegation, Mr. Otchere-Darko was accused of taking various sums of money from individuals who wish to have discussions with the president at the Flagstaff House.
In the process, Sammens was heard retorting that he bought his own ticket and was in US as a media person. Mr. Otchere-Darko however kept quiet, smiled and walked to his destination.
Gabby’s woes
It would be recalled that Mr. Otchere-Darko was flogged with horse whips a year ago by the Police when the Let My Vote Count demonstration turned violent. He was attacked together with other protesters after reportedly attempting to move to routes restricted by the Police.
The demonstration that sought to petition the Electoral Commission (EC) to replace the voters’ register, ended abruptly after police fired tear gas and bartered some demonstrators with batons and horsewhips. The police however said it used required minimum force to disperse some of the violent demonstrators who had defied the route for the protest.
“Even where you break the law, the police have absolutely no right to use violence on you. I did not break any law. I was part of the protest and we got to a place where there was a standoff. That standoff was not violent because the protestors were trying to make a case to the police but the police kept asking them to go back and the next minute they just rushed on the protestors with batons and teargas; that’s really what happened. And I really think that for a democratic country so-called, there is no place for such violence.”
“If this is John Mahama’s Ghana, then that’s not the Ghana he inherited. We were here when in 2008 after the second-round of elections without any police notice; the NDC led by the General Secretary stormed the Electoral Commission. Is that how they were treated when that happened? This can’t be democracy; we can’t say we have a democracy in Ghana if elections can be stolen and when you take steps to clean the electoral process; you are then assaulted and brutalized by police. As a Ghanaian, I believed in the course so I was just there to exercise my right. It’s not as if I was one of the leaders or anything. Then for no reason when I was walking away peacefully during a standoff, I am beaten with horsewhips and batons. We shouldn’t allow our democracy to go this way,” Gabby retorted at the time.