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OccupyBoG demo: You can’t stop us from protesting – Peter Toobu
Wa West MP Peter Lanchene Toobu says the police cannot prevent the Minority in Parliament from going ahead with their #OccupyBoG protest.
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.
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 attempts 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.”
Source: Myjoyonline.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
