Dumsor vigil rocks Accra
Many Ghanaians from all walks of life last Saturday embarked on what observers described as one of the massive demonstrations ever to rock the country.
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Dubbed: “#DumorMustStop”, the demonstration was in protest against the power crisis that has gripped the country in the past three years and put pressure on the government to solve the problem.
It was organised by some Ghanaian celebrities to reiterate the fact that the power crisis was impacting negatively on production and putting people out of business, while derailing national progress.
The demonstrators, numbering more than 2000 began from the Legon Overhead Bridge and moved down close to the Total Filling Station which sits adjacent to the university, but the police urged the leaders to move further ahead from the filling station, since some of the protestors were holding lighted ‘bobo’.
‘Bobo’ is a local lamp made from empty cans filled with kerosene, with a little tunnel at the top from which an absorbent twine protrudes that is lighted.
The police congregated at the starting point more than two hours before the announced time for the demonstration which was 4pm.
Police presence
At the beginning, police deployment, numbering over 300, backed by a large fleet of vehicles, was seen as an overkill, considering the few people who had converged on the venue.
Some journalists and observers who had held that opinion had to discard it not long after when the gathering started thickening with the arrival of more people on foot.
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Those with vehicles parked them by the roadside, thereby creating a seemingly endless queue of parked vehicles along the road, stretching almost from the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) to the Okponglo Junction.
The number of people who had started the march was about 600, but what occurred as a mystery to the eye was a snowball effect that ensued with the number of protestors swelling as they moved towards the converging point.
Apparently, some people stood at various junctions, awaiting the procession to get close for them to join.
At some points in time, some people who had clearly not planned to take part in the demonstration but had been drawn by the attraction of the event parked their vehicles to join.
Protestors came armed with every possible imagery of the effect of the dumsor — some carried torches, while others had candles; some had generating sets on bicycles, while some carried car batteries connected with cables that illuminated bulbs.
With the built up momentum, the composition and adoption of songs on ‘dumsor’ came unrehearsed and the demonstrators just sang them with measured frenzy.
One of such songs had the refrain: “Dum-dum-dum-dum-sorrrrrrrrrrr.......”.
Traffic build-up
The march ended at the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange and created what road users from Accra to Legon-Madina and beyond described as one of the slowest ever encountered.
But apart from the action which contributed to the go-slow, people in passing vehicles slowed down to catch a glimpse of the action, a development which did not help the traffic flow.
Some traders took advantage of the event to sell some protest-related paraphernalia, including T-shirts on which “Dumsor” had been inscribed, pieces of red cloth, whistles and vuvuzelas.
Ladies who had gone to the salon to wash, dry and style their hair but encountered power outages came with their hair set in varied colours of rollers.
Alidu saved by police
On the whole, the demonstration went on peacefully, however, when Mr Haruna Alidu, a member of the government’s communication team arrived to join the protest, he was nearly lynched by angry protestors.
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Mr Alidu, following Yvonne Nelson’s move to embark on the dumsor demonstration had labelled Ghanaian celebrities above 30 years and unmarried as “prostitutes” and “irresponsible”.
The timely intervention of the police averted what could have been a rather nasty experience for him.
This reporter sighted three protestors wearing black T-shirts with the inscriptions: “Mahama is working on it”, “Mahama will fix it” and “Mahama will succeed”.
Others carried placards with messages such as “JDM is sleeping on the job”, “Wake up. Ghana is suffering”, “All politicians must sleep in the dark”, among other such inscriptions.
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Yvonne Nelso, DKB, Prince David Osei, D. Black took turns to address the gathering detailing the negative impacts that the dumsor was having on national life and urging the government to take immediate steps to remedy the situation.
But the emotional moment was when Van Vicker broke down in tears when he took his turn to address the people. His tears, were for persons who had lost their lives due to the effect of dumsor on healthcare delivery.
Background
The protest, which was organised and led by some notable Ghanaian celebrities such as Van Vicker, Ama Abebrese, David Osei, comedian DKB, musician D. Black and others, with the award-winning actress, Yvonne Nelson, at the forefront, began when Yvonne sent a tweet on May 4, 2015 that said: “#DumorMustStop”.
Moments after, that hashtag attracted scores of her followers, and like wildfire, it caught on with millions others within and outside the country.
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But the move to undertake the protest encountered a number of hiccups before it finally took place last Saturday.
First, it was the University of Ghana authorities who 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 the On The Run eatery near the university, but in less than 24 hours the owners of the venue, Total Ghana, denied them permission.
Then a statement from the Ga Traditional Council muddied the waters and held the procession in limbo.
However, a meeting among the organisers, the Ga Traditional Council and the police earlier last week reached a consensus and gave the celebrities the opportunity to hold the vigil.
One school of thought has argued that the rigmarole that characterised the intent of the celebrities to hold the protest had led to its high patronage.
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