Ejisu traders demonstrate against assembly

Five persons, including two women, have been arrested in connection with yesterday’s demonstration by traders at Ejisu in the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region.

They were said to have questioned authorities for leasing portions of the market land to a private developer for the construction of a filling station.

The names of the five persons were not immediately given out by the police.

The traders, clad in red and black attire, barricaded parts of the main street leading to Ejisu in an attempt to frustrate the implementation of the project.

The initial peaceful demonstration nearly turned chaotic when the angry traders attempted to invade the palace of the Ejisu chief, Oguakuro Afrane Okesse IV,  who together with the Ejisu Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Yamoah Ponkor, were said to have been the brains behind the lease of the land.

The Ejisu District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr La Baman, and his team quickly intervened to control the crowd.

In the process, five traders were arrested for allegedly disturbing the peace and breaching the Public Order Act by demonstrating without police permit.

Charge

The police commander told the Daily Graphic that the five were yet to be charged and put before court.

The over two-hour demonstration resulted in heavy vehicular traffic. The traders carried placards some of which read: “Ejisu Market was sold by Afrane Okese and Yamoah Ponkor for their personal gains”, “Respect is reciprocal and vice versa”, “Oh leaders of today!”,  “God is watching”, “ Ejisu needs leaders not misleaders”, “ Yamoah Ponkor we are tired of you”, “ How can we take care of our children?”.

Victims

A physically-challenged lottery operator, Robert Daron, whose kiosk was one of the structures affected by the lease, told the media he was surprised leaders of the town were depriving him of his livelihood.

He said since he lost his two legs in a motor accident a decade ago, lottery operation had remained his source of livelihood. A tomato seller, Ms Ama Adomah, was in tears when she narrated her ordeal.

According to her, denying them access to the said place was like serving them with a death sentence.

“How can we take care of our children”, she asked.

A passer-by, who was unfortunately hit by a rubber bullet, could not hide her frustration. She was very angry, saying the police were at the scene to rather worsen the case and not to maintain law and order.

A class three pupil of the Ejisu Methodist Preparatory School, Patience Asumeng, an asthmatic, collapsed after inhaling the fumes from the several canisters of tear gas fired by the police.

Chief

The Chief, Oguakuro Afrane Okesse IV, reacting to the allegation at a hurriedly arranged press conference, explained to the media that the move was part of initiatives to develop the town.

He said it was wrong for the people to take the law into their own hands and not resort to the proper channel for redress.