LMVCA abandons EC demo; accuses police of being manipulated by the State
The convener of the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), David Asante, has announced that the pressure group will abide by a court order preventing them from picketing at the office of the Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday.
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LMVCA had Tuesday morning received clearance from an Accra Circuit court to picket at the office of the EC, but by late afternoon, the police had secured authority from an Accra Circuit court to restrain them.
The police argued in court that they had received intelligence that some criminal elements would attempt to destabilise Accra on Tuesday - a development they said would inhibit their capacity to offer protection to the demonstrators.
Siding with the police, the Accra Circuit court said: “It is hereby ordered that the organisers of Let My Vote Count Alliance are restrained from demonstrating on the 29th of September 2015 but fix another date in October to give the police adequate time to prepare to ensure the safety of the demonstrators and the general public.”
Expressing his disappointment at the court’s decision Monday night, David Asante accused the police, which he said was being “manipulated by the State”, of attempting to “suppress the will of the people”.
He told Metro TV that in place of the demonstration, the LMVCA would hold a press conference Tuesday morning to “lay bare the facts”.
The cancelled demonstration is a blow to the LMVCA’s effort to, ahead of the 2016 election, pressure the EC to ditch the current voters’ register, which the group says is fraught with anomalies.
A similar planned demonstration and picketing at the EC two weeks ago was thwarted when the police secured a court order preventing the group from going near the EC office.
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Instead, the LMVCA demonstrators were allowed to embark on a protest march from the Obra spot through the Central Business District to the Hearts Park on the High Street, where they were expected to present their petition to a representative of the EC.
However, the demonstration turned bloody after the police man-handled some of the protesters who veered off the approved route.