PNC Abandons Tomorrow’s #OccupyBoG Demo

By Gifty Arthur

Tomorrow’s #OccupyBoG demonstration, aimed at getting the governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison, and his two deputies ousted from office, appears to have suffered a near setback.

Despite the Minority in Parliament insisting, it will go ahead with the protest, the People’s National Convention (PNC) has distanced itself from the demonstration, slated for tomorrow, Tuesday, October 3.

The Anchor’s monitoring of the issue reveals that, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority in Parliament, who are the organizers of the demonstration, has listed the PNC as one of its associates in the much-awaited protest march.

The immediate past national chairman of the PNC, Bernard Mornah, is featured prominently in the protest, which was postponed last month, following disagreements with the police on the choice of routes and where to end the exercise.

No Notice

But according to the leadership of PNC, it was not informed by organizers of the protest, hence their directive to the Minority not to use its emblem on the flier as one of the endorsers.

In a strongly worded statement signed by its General Secretary, Janet Asana Nablah, she said the unilateral decision not to inform the party before adding its emblem onto the flier was disrespectful.

Ms.Nablah therefore ordered the organizers, in this case the minority, to do the needful by removing the ‘kube’ emblem from the flier.

“The People’s National Convention (PNC) attention has been drawn to a flyer with the party’s logo trending on social media that claims the party would participate in the Occupy Bank [of Ghana] Demo.

“The party is issuing a stern warning to the organizers of the protest and demands that they remove the party’s name immediately from their flyer. The PNC considers the conveners’ decision to include the party on its flyer without first consulting the party as an act of disrespect,” the statement indicated.

It warned the PNC would not hesitate to take legal action against the conveners if they continue to use the emblem in future programme, when they have not agreed to it usage.

“If this happens once again, the party will bring legal action against the conveners,” the statement concluded.

Good Faith

The Minority has also said they have demonstrated good faith towards the processes leading to the #OccupyBoG demonstration, slated for tomorrow, Tuesday, October 3, after the police failed to prove service of injunction on the organizers in court on Friday.

Despite calls by a section of Ghanaians to ignore the police to carry on the demonstration, it has disclosed that the group needed to set an example as Members of Parliament by obeying the laws, the reason they will not allow the cops to cow them from undertaking what is a constitutional right to them.

Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has been telling TV3’s Komla Klutse Friday, September 29, 2023, that the police cannot be arbitrary in its dealings, whilst the laws of the land specify what is required of them.

According to him, the peace enforcement agency had agreed to provide for the team, protection on Tuesday.

However, the turn around to serve an injunction to prevent them from embarking on the demo was a surprise to the group, the reason he is personally happy the case of the police was “thrown away.”

The demonstration, which was initially scheduled for September 5, this year, had to be postponed to October 3 because of the injunction suit filed by the police. But the Minority says the arbitrariness of the police will not stop them from organising the protest.

Meanwhile, the Minority and its collaborators, including some other opposition parties, as well as Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), are continuing their community engagements.

Community Engagements

They have been moving from one constituency to the other, which are mainly the stronghold of the NDC, sensitizing the general public on the need to come in their numbers at the Obra Spot to join in the protest.

So far, The Anchor has gathered, the team has visited Odododiodio, Ashaiman, Madina, Ayawaso North and Dadekotopon among others.

Background

The Minority in Parliament are staging a demonstration to occupy the premises of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to force the governor of the bank, Dr. Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison, and his two deputies, to resign for what they describe as mismanagement of the bank placing it in a very difficult situation.

The central bank in its 2022 report accrued a loss GHC60.8 billion and ran a negative equity of GHC55.1 billion. Meanwhile, the bank is spending US$250million to construct a new headquarters which was initially budgeted at US$81.8 million which the Minority has rejected.

Source:Anchorghana.com