The Minority in Parliament, in conjunction with the NDC and other pressure groups, embarked on the “OccupyBoGProtest on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.
The peaceful demonstration, which lasted for over 6 hours, pulled together thousands of protestors.
The procession was agreed to have started from the “Obra Spot” of the Kwame Nkrumah Circle through Adabraka, Ridge Roundabout, National Theatre Traffic Light, High Court Complex area, Atta Mills Highway, and the U-turn towards Independence Square, where it will terminate.
However, a few hours into the protest, the leadership of the minority announced that they would have to present the petition to the leadership of the Bank of Ghana at the end of the demonstration, a decision the police opposed.
Nonetheless, the police ultimately succumbed to the demands of the protesters amid a tight security presence at the entrance of the Central Bank.
The protesters held placards with inscriptions such as “Addison Must Go”, “Scrap the 10% Betting Tax Now”, “Enough of the Family and Friends”, “Corruption is Killing Us”, “Akufo-Addo is Wicked” and “Bawumia: Too Known in Opposition, Useless in Government”, among others.
There was also heavy security detail within and around the demonstrators, and the leaders stopped at frequent intervals to grant interviews to the media.
Key personalities who joined the demonstration include the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson; NDC Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah; NDC General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey; some members of parliament on the minority side; and convenors of pressure groups such as Arise Ghana.
At the BoG premises, Head of Security at the BOG, Wing Commander Kwame Asare Boateng, elected to receive the petition on behalf of the BOG authorities because, according to him, they were engaged in a meeting with the IMF.
But Minority Leader Dr. Ato Forson refused to present the petition to him, alluding to disrespect on the part of Dr. Ernest Addison and his deputies for not showing up.
“I, as the Minority Leader of Parliament, feel very disrespected… It is very disrespectful for him not to receive the petition himself. Not even the deputy is here, and we never said we were going to present our petition to security. We would not give you the petition”, Dr. Forson charged.
He told the Bank of Ghana representative and the crowd gathered that they insisted on seeing the governor and would definitely persist in the coming days until they saw him.
“We will go and come back again. Until we see him, this is just the beginning”, he added.
In a related development, the Ghana Police Service has described the #OccupyBoGProtest as peaceful.
In a statement after the demonstration, the police said, “We wish to once again assure the public that the Police remain committed to upholding our democratic values and will continue to work together with all stakeholders to ensure peace, security, law, and order in our beloved country.”
