A lawyer, Oliver Baker-Vormawor has described the seeming penchant for the police to dictate the location, and to some extent, the dates for which organisers of a demonstration must go for such events as an infringement on the rights of the citizens.

He explained that the choice of location or dates selected by protestors is important because it is chosen with the intention of sending a message to the authority to whom the demonstration is directed.

The legal practitioner added that when the police decide to assign a location or date different from the choice of the protestors, it undermines the message they are trying to convey.

Mr Baker-Vormawor emphasised on JoyNews’ The Law that, “It's completely breaching of rights. Not only are demonstrations covered under the freedom of assembly, but also freedom of expression."

The lawyer added that “A lot of the time, the choice of selecting a location for the demonstration ―where they want to go to,― and the choice of the date of the demonstration, is also intended to communicate other things, which are also protected rights under the constitution.”

Additionally, he established that demonstrations are fundamental rights guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution, hence his emphasis that the police must not dictate where and when protestors must embark on such an event. 

Referencing the picketing that the NDC intends to organise at the Bank of Ghana premises, the lawyer stressed that if the police direct the protestors to conduct their protest somewhere else instead of the Bank of Ghana, the demonstration will fail to achieve the intended effect.

 He said, “If the idea of occupying the Bank of Ghana is that they want to be able to petition the Governor of Bank of Ghana, to draw citizens' attention to the failings of the institution, people are entitled to do that.”

Mr Baker-Vormawor then implored that the Supreme Court address this issue to ensure that the police refrain from dictating locations and dates of protests.

He forewarned that should this issue be left unaddressed, then demonstrations would be rendered ineffective, which would eventually impair the potency of Ghana’s democracy.

Once again, he stressed that “It is not the place of the police to choose for demonstrators what message they want to send and who to send the message to.”