Bagbin commends Police ; For handling NPP-led protest well
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, has commended personnel of the Ghana Police Service for the manner in which they handle the New Patriotic Party (NPP)-led protests against the current energy crisis.
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He said the conduct of the police demonstrated that Ghana’s democracy had indeed come of age and urged all state institutions to learn from the police and be professional in the discharge of their duties.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, Mr Bagbin said protests were oftentimes a meaningful avenue for democratic expression.
But, he said, unlike some jurisdictions where security personnel would have used repressive means to stifle the demonstrators or visit mayhem on the protestors, personnel of the Ghana Police Service exhibited calmness and professionalism.
Mr Bagbin said it also showed that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) appreciated dissent in Ghana’s democracy and urged all political parties to do same.
“This is the beauty of Ghana’s democracy. We must applaud ourselves,” he said.
Background
Following the massive public outcry over the erratic power supply in the country, the NPP set February 18, 2015 to stage a mass demonstration over the issue.
The demonstration was also aimed at expressing displeasure at the worsening economic situation in the country.
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Ghana has been battling with power crisis for some time now, a situation which has compelled the government to place orders for emergency power barges.
No plan
Several attempts by the police to keep all the marchers in line on the street only worked temporarily, as some always found themselves on the shoulders of the streets.
The police were, however, able to cordon off certain junctions so that the demonstrators would not stray, albeit only up to a point.
Trappings of carnival
The demonstration, which attracted the leadership of the NPP, had the features of a carnival. Music blaring from loudspeakers placed in the buckets of pick-ups and on articulated trucks, miniature vuvuzelas blaring every minute from several lips and groups of people singing and dancing while displaying placards with various inscriptions, took the centre stage of the ‘Won Gbo’ demonstration.
The demonstration attracted hundreds of thousands of people who joined in to express their displeasure at the state of the Ghanaian economy.
Clad mostly in black or red attire, with some of them in specially designed ‘Dumsor’ ‘T’ shirts, the NPP faithful who had come from parts of the country and even from the diaspora, said they were demonstrating against the power crisis that had engulfed the country as well as the mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy.