The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) has said a court order restraining it from holding a peaceful demonstration against the Agyapa Royalties deal is unfortunate.

Executive Director, Mensah Thompson, said police acted in bad faith because ASEPA followed all the right procedures in its bid to hold the demonstration.

“I think it is a bit surprising because we had written to the police in accordance with the Public Order Act, and we had stated clearly what we intended to do on the 21st of September. The police wrote back to us citing a number of issues which we disagreed with.

“So, we’re through with some processes for the demonstration only to be hit with this court order. It’s actually novel, we didn’t know the police will go to this extent to prevent us from demonstrating,” Mr Thompson told Citi News on Friday, September 19, 2020.

ASEPA was slapped with the restraining order that directed the pressure group from going ahead with its scheduled demonstration against the controversial Agyapa deal.

The order was secured by the Ghana Police Service from the High Court after it had earlier communicated its decision not to sanction the demonstration.

The court says it granted the ex-parte motion after examining the affidavit presented by the Ghana Police Service and the response submitted by the counsel of the plaintiff.

“It is hereby ordered that the respondents herein namely ASEPA and Mensah Thompson or any other group of persons affiliated to the respondents are prohibited and restrained from demonstrating against an agreement passed by the Parliament of Ghana popularly known as Agyapa agreement which demonstration is intended for 21st September 2020”, the restraining order according to Citi FM reads.

ASEPA in a communique to the Ghana Police served notice of its intent to demonstrate against the Agyapa deal undertaken by the government of Ghana.

The police in its response to ASEPA said it was unable to approve the demonstration due to the COVI-19 pandemic and its existing protocols.