Dumsor demo in limbo?
With five days to go, the fortunes of the much talked-about May 16 Dumsor Vigil seem to hang on a thin thread. The #DumsorMustStop campaign, championed by actress, Yvonne Nelson, and other celebrities is meant to put pressure on President Mahama to solve the current energy crisis Ghana finds itself.
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But there have been “many rivers to cross” and the organisers must find their way over before next Saturday. First salvo was from the University of Ghana, Legon whose staduim premises the march was originally scheduled to start from.
The university authorities distanced themselves from it saying, they were not aware of the event; neither were they in the process of granting permission to any persons seeking to hold any such procession.
Organisers then changed the start-off venue to On The Run eatery near the university but in less than 24 hours, owners of the venue, Total Ghana, denied them permission.
A statement by Olivier Van Parys, managing director of Total Petroleum Ghana Limited said, “Please note that our Company, Total Petroleum Ghana Limited, which is the owner of the said location, has not been contacted for any such programme and would therefore request the general public to disregard the announcements running on various media.”
At the time of going to press, the latest organisation to have thrown a spanner in the works was the Ga Traditional Council which has petitioned the Police to stop the vigil because it will be happening during the annual ban on drumming and noisemaking, which precedes the traditional Homowo festival.
“We are going; Heaven knows where we are going; we know we will” seems to be the song on the lips of the organisers who insist that the march and vigil will certainly come on as scheduled.
“It’s not a problem”, lawyer for the oganisers, Kofi Bentil, told the media on Saturday. The celebrities will converge under the bridge at Legon and walk towards Tetteh Quarshie. People should come. Wherever they will come from it’s not necessary. The most important thing is, we will host the vigil at Tetteh Quarshie”, he said.
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Armed with a determination to carry on and a police approval to boot, it promises to be an interesting candle-bearing slow march with celebrities in the creative arts such as Sarkodie, Lydia Forson, Kwaw Kesse, Trigmatic, E.L., Joselyn Dumas, D Black, Ama K. Abebrese, Confidence Haugen, Efya, Nikki Samonas, Deborah Vanessa, Eddie Watson, DKB, and Van Vicker taking part
It remains to be seen if the AMA will not put the final cog in the wheel to deny them access to the final destination - the lawns of the Tetteh Quarshie Circle.