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General News of Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Source: Young Patriots

Police ban demo against Mahama

In a desperate attempt to prevent the Young Patriots from staging the biggest demonstration to ever hit the streets of Accra, against the wrongful declaration and swearing-in of John Dramani Mahama as President, The Ghana Police Service has gone to the extreme of banning the upcoming demonstration.

The latest move by the Ghana Police Service has been to secure an injunction preventing the Young Patriots from demonstrating until the 9th of January 20013.

According to executives of the Young Patriots, the Ghana Police Service has tried all means to stop the Young Patriots from organising demonstrations, including covert means. One such covert means, as described by Richard Nyamah, a member of the pressure group, was the running off the road of a Young Patriots Vehicle by an unmarked security vehicle on Sunday on the Tema Motorway.

Indeed, Richard Nyamah stated that when they met with officials of the Ghana Police Service, last Friday, The Greater Accra Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbilla told the Young Patriots that “Your demonstration will embarrass the President and the government”, and as such they will not let it happen.

The Young Patriots, as a result of this declaration, wondered why President Mahama, the NDC government, and the Ghana Police Service would go to all limits to ban lawful demonstrations if they believe President John Dramani Mahama won the election.

“It is a tacit admission that they have know they have lost the election, and that is why the NDC is using police-state tactics to intimidate us. But we shall not budge,” Richard Nyamah said.

He continued, “The injunction was secured in under two hours. We are law abiding, so we will go by the injunction and wait till the 9th of January before demonstrating. We are assuring the Police and the government, that they will see a ‘gargantuan’ demo, never witnessed in the history of our dear country.”

Richard Nyamah assured President John Dramani Mahama that “the 1 million votes he stole will be represented on the streets of Africa."

Mr Nyamah ended by saying that “We are daring Police to stop us after the injunction is over. This will not be settled by an injunction, and this is not a threat. The use of Police-State tactics against us will not work.”

It is recalled that the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, issued a stern warning to John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to immediately cease using police-state tactics to interfere with the preparation of evidence by the party to challenge the Electoral Commission’s (EC) verdict on the December 7 polls.

“By now, it is clear that the NDC is running scared and will stop at nothing to silence the voice of the people, who are increasingly demanding an answer about the systematic, coordinated, and deliberate manipulation of election results that the NPP has uncovered. Continued unwarranted acts of aggression against citizens who peacefully follow the legal process, including a raid by dozens of fully armed police and military personnel on a private office full of male and female students merely counting blue sheets, will lead this country towards a police state. We cannot, and will not, allow that to happen,” noted Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John.