By William
Yaw Owusu
Thursday
March 29, 2018
The demonstration sponsored primarily by the opposition
National Democratic Congress (NDC) against the Ghana/United States Military
Partnership Agreement was held in Accra yesterday.
Although the organizers - Ghana First Patriotic
Front - claimed it was a coalition of opposition political parties that staged
the protest, almost all the participants belonged to the NDC.
Bizarrely, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a serial demonstrator
who once announced his retirement from demonstrations when the NDC was in
office, came out of his so-called retirement to join the protestors.
Many observers wondered what might have motivated
him to suddenly change his mind.
Earlier, Koku Anyidoho, who is a Deputy General
Secretary of the NDC, revealed that they would use the protest to set the tone
to remove President Akufo-Addo from office through a coup d’etat.
He declared on a private radio station Happy FM in
Accra last Monday that he would lead a civilian movement to overthrow Nana Akufo-Addo’s
government.
The statement has landed him in trouble, as he is
currently in detention awaiting a court date.
He has been charged with treason.
The demonstration started from the Obra Spot at the
Kwame Nkrumah Circle through to Adabraka Farisco.
The protestors moved towards the TUC Traffic
Intersection and used the right turn to hit the High Street where they converged
on the Hearts of Oak Park to listen to speeches from their leaders.
Chief Superintendent Kwasi Ofori in-charge of Accra
Region of the Ghana Police Service said “we witnessed an incident-free
demonstration, very orderly and we expressed our appreciation to the leadership
of the demonstrators even in times of challenges as we proceeded. They also
intervened and they were on our side to talk to some of the demonstrators,
especially at Farisco when some wanted to go through the COCOBOD/UTC area.
The cooperation was good and we need to thank them
all for their support.”
He said “the police will not object to any persons
or groups who desire to hold demonstrations provided they will not lead to
violence, provided they will not lead to disturbing public peace and security.”
He said “anyone that decides to do something apart
from what the organizers decided will be handled as and when necessary.”
Former President John Mahama supported the
demonstration on social media.
He posted,“I join in declaring #GhanaFirst as my
compatriots and other democratic forces converge to demonstrate their
opposition to the Ghana/US military agreement.”
Some opponents of the NDC have argued that the party
held the demonstration to protest against the arrest of Koku Anyidoho and not
the military deal.
A former Trade and Industry Minister, Dr. Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah, who intends to lead the NDC in the 2020 presidential election, denied
the accusation.
He said in a post on Facebook that “the
demonstration was announced long before Koku's arrest. So the demo was and is
not about Koku's arrest but the general misgovernance of Ghana leading to the
Military Agreement with the USA. Joining others to see to the welfare of Koku
does not imply agreement with any statement.”
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