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Ghana: Police Defy Mills' Orders

George Kyei Frimpong

1 July 2009

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The Police administration has stated that it would comply with the Prohibition order by the Accra High Court that restrained the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) from embarking on its demonstration tomorrow.

The Public Relations Director for the police, DSP Kwesi Ofori who spoke to The Chronicle in an interview yesterday, said any attempt to allow the pressure group to go ahead with their demonstration on July 2, would amount to contempt of court. He however promised that the directive from the President to allow the demonstration would be carried out after July 2, when the court order would have elapsed.

"It is a court order and anything short of that will amount to contempt of court, at the same time the police will act on the orders of the President to provide AFAG on any other day apart from the 2nd of July, which has been prohibited by the court," he said.

He noted that on the day of the demonstration, the police would marshal its human resources to ensure the safety of the demonstrators and the communities they would find themselves in.

The Public Relations Director advised the leadership of AFAG to contact the police to agree on the routes that would be used so that the rights of others would not be abused.

Asked whether the President's order was made in consultation with the police, he responded that "it's a presidential directive, if it comes that way we will look for reinforcement from other regions to ensure effective security for the demonstration."

Reacting to claims by AFAG that it could police itself, he said in contemporary times it is the responsibility of the police to guard demonstrators. "Even in developed countries, no demonstration takes place without state security from the police," he argued.

DSP Ofori said the police do not protect only demonstrators but the communities and commuters, so that their rights would not be trampled upon. He maintained that should AFAG decide to go on the demonstration on any other day apart from July 2, this year, the organizers would be schooled on Public Order Act 419, adding that the leaders of the demonstration would take responsibility of any infraction.

"Our advice is, should they decide to go on the demonstration, it should be devoid of any violence since it wouldl not be entertained by the police".

He said whether the police would be busy on July 2 or not, it would not be able to guard the demonstrators because of the court order, adding that they do not want to lose focus on their fight against criminals.

In its ruling on June 29th, this month, the Presiding Judge of the High Court, Justice Uuter Paul Dery said upon hearing the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Gertrude Aikins, "It hereby ordered that the respondent herein, Alliance for Accountable Governance be and is hereby prohibited from holding a special event in Accra on July 2nd, 2009."

A leading member of AFAG, Mr. Abeeku said they were still divided on whether to embark on the exercise or not.

He said it was likely AFAG would postpone the demonstration because they would have to respect the court order.

"People think that we are targeting Obama's visit but that is not the case", he clarified.

In a related development the GNA reports that Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a pressure group close to the opposition political parties, on Tuesday raised issues with President John Evans Atta Mills for directing the Ghana Police Service, to give protection to any group, which wants to embark on demonstration.

AFAG said the directive came after the Police Service had secured a court order restraining the holding of the demonstration in breach of the 1992 Constitution and amounted to interfering with the independence of the courts.

It added that by such an action, the President was trying to score cheap political points.

Addressing a press conference in Accra, Mr Godfred Dame, Legal Adviser and Member of AFAG, said the group "deprecates the attempt by the President to reserve unto himself the prerogative of either approving or disapproving the exercise of a citizen's fundamental human rights, which is inalienable and specifically enshrined in the 1992 Constitution".

The President gave the directive on Monday after the Police Service said it could not offer protection for the demonstrators because of logistical and personnel constraints.

AFAG notified the Police Service that it would embark on a demonstration on July 2, to protest over issues of "abuse of human rights of a section of the citizenry and deplorable economic conditions".

Mr Dame said the situation where a court of competent jurisdiction gave an order and the President of the republic who, swore to protect and defend the Constitution, turned around to sanction or invite a disobedience of that order by the court was absurd.

He said the "Constitution of the land makes the judiciary independent and not subject to the control of the Executive" adding that human rights were not a privilege conferred on the citizenry by the President.

He said members of AFAG were law-abiding citizens and announced that since the court order by the police was still valid, AFAG would not embark on the scheduled demonstration.

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