A private legal practitioner, Osman Alhasan says this is the time for Ghanaians to be allowed to express their displeasure about the happenings in the country. 

He said the consequence (s) of not allowing such expressions will be dire.

According to him, considering the spate of military interventions and instability in the sub-region, citizens cannot be not be prevented from holding demonstrations. 

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Alhassan advised the Ghana Police Service to take a cue from events in neighboring countries. 

He was commenting on the back and forth between the police and the minority caucus over their intended demonstration against the Bank of Ghana Governor and his two deputies.

“This is the time people must be allowed to express their dissatisfaction and displeasure. This is the time to allow people to say what they don’t like because the consequences of not allowing them will be worse.”

The NDC MPs are seeking to march on Tuesday, September 5, from Makola, through Rawlings Park and Opera Square to the frontage of the Bank of Ghana.

The march is aimed at getting the Bank of Ghana Governor and his two deputies to resign from office due to the over GH¢60.8 billion losses the central bank recorded in 2022.

However, the police argue that the route is often overcrowded with human and vehicular traffic and thus going by that route could endanger public order, public safety and the running of essential services.

They had proposed an alternate route starting from the Parliament House through the Osu Cemetery Traffic Light to end at Independence Square, which the minority rejected.

The injunction, which will be heard on September 4 is to prevent the Minority from using their preferred route.

Already, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has slammed the police for the move.

He described the police action as a “breach of trust” and expressed utter disappointment in their conduct.

“We received a letter on Wednesday from the Ghana Police Service accompanied by a bailiff from the Accra High Court who served a notice or motion for an order to prohibit our Bank of Ghana protest, and we must say that we are very disappointed with this development which is an attempt to scatter the protest which is intended to hold the Governor and his deputies accountable for their mismanagement of the bank which resulted in an unprecedented and colossal loss of GH¢60.8 billion, an amount which has had serious consequences on the economy and pushed close to one million Ghanaians into poverty.”

“And let us assure the people of Ghana that, as representatives, we will keep our sacred duty and we will uphold the public interest in line with our constitutionally guaranteed right to publicly protest, and we want to assure the people of Ghana that we have resolved to embark on this protest and nothing will stop us.”