Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu, has said the police cannot prevent the Minority in Parliament from going ahead with their demonstration against the Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr Ernest Addison.
The lawmaker, who is also a former cop insists, his former employers do not have such powers in the constitution.
The Greater Accra Regional Police Command on Wednesday filed for an injunction against the Minority’s proposed routes for its protest dubbed #OccupyBoG.
The NDC MPs are seeking to march on Tuesday, September 5, from Makola, through Rawlings Park and Opera Square to the frontage of the Bank of Ghana.
The march is aimed at getting the Bank of Ghana Governor and his two deputies to resign from office due to the over GH¢60.8 billion losses the central bank recorded in 2022.
However, the police argue that the route is often overcrowded with human and vehicular traffic and thus going by that route could endanger public order, public safety and the running of essential services.
They had proposed an alternate route starting from the Parliament House through the Osu Cemetery Traffic Light to end at Independence Square, which the minority rejected.
The injunction, which will be heard on September 4 is to prevent the Minority from using their preferred route.
But Mr Toobu says any attempt by the police to frustrate the NDC MPs will be resisted.
Already, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has lashed out at the police for the move.
He thus described it as a “breach of trust” and expressed their utter disappointment at the conduct of the police.
“We received a letter on Wednesday from the Ghana Police Service accompanied by a bailiff from the Accra High Court who served a notice or motion for an order to prohibit our Bank of Ghana protest, and we must say that we are very disappointed with this development which is an attempt to scatter the protest which is intended to hold the governor and his deputies accountable for their mismanagement of the bank which resulted in an unprecedented and colossal loss of GH¢60.8 billion, an amount which has had serious consequences on the economy and pushed close to one million Ghanaians into poverty.”
“And let us assure the people of Ghana that, as representatives, we will keep our sacred duty and we will uphold the public interest in line with our constitutionally guaranteed right to publicly protest, and we want to assure the people of Ghana that we have resolved to embark on this protest and nothing will stop us.”