A legal practitioner and researcher, Oliver Baker-Vormawor is informing Ghanaians that any individual who intends to go on a protest does not need a police permit to conduct the protest.

According to the lawyer, the Constitution acknowledges demonstrations as a fundamental human right that ought to be enjoyed by every citizen. Therefore, citizens do not need to ask the police for permission before exercising that right.

He explained on JoyNews' The Law, that “This [demonstration] is a right that belongs to you. Nobody gives it to you. It’s your God-given right that you are born with. So, because of this, you do not need permission to enjoy the right. Like the right to life, you don’t need permission from anybody to live. So that’s the thinking behind it.”

Mr Baker-Vormawor further disclosed that initially, citizens needed to seek a permit from the police before they could embark on a protest.

However, according to him, the change in that framework in the old Constitution is attributable to an incident in which the police were denying the New Patriotic Party (NPP) their freedom of assembly as entrenched in the constitution.

The lawyer revealed that due to this infringement by the police, the issue was petitioned before a Supreme Court to intervene.

“The Supreme Court intervened on the question as to whether or not the police were to give a permit or permission.”

Mr Baker-Vormawor stated that the ruling of the Supreme Court eventually was that “irrespective of what you’re going to demonstrate about, you are entitled to be able to do or go on that demonstration. You cannot then go to seek permission for what is rightfully yours.” Hence, effecting the change in the old Public Order Ordinance.

Despite the education that a citizen does not need permission from the police before embarking on a protest, the lawyer emphasised that the Constitution mandates the organisers of a protest to notify the police before they can go on a demonstration.

“You must give the police notice of when the event is going to happen. In order that the police will be able to better prepare for the event, it requires that you give them a 5-day notice before the event takes place.”

He stressed that this notice would enable the police to put in place measures towards making the demonstration a successful event.

This notice, he advised, is the initial and essential requirement of any citizen interested in organising a demonstration.