The New Patriotic Party observed the 4th August 2009 demonstration by the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) and wishes to congratulate the group for the peaceful and law-abiding manner in which they conducted their demonstration.

Ghanaians are grateful to AFAG for rising to fight on the side of the ordinary people of this country. The large crowd (the largest since the Kumepreko demonstrations in the mid-nineties) that joined them shows that Ghanaians identify with the concerns they raised.

It is even more impressive that in spite of the large numbers, the demonstrators conducted themselves responsibly, making the exercise incident-free. We urge them to keep this up.

We also congratulate the Ghana Police Service for the professionalism displayed by the police officers assigned to escort the demonstrators. The officers have proved that so long as demonstrators do not get violent and lawless the police would relate to them politely.

Finally, we call on the Mills administration to pay attention to the concerns raised by the demonstrators who came from various backgrounds: traders, fisher-folks, pastors, students, fresh graduates, farmers, public servants, artisans, teachers and lecturers, journalists, drivers, employees of the formal private-sector, and so on.

Government needs to sit up and act quickly to address the widespread realisation that the NDC government used deceit to obtain political power and are incapable of addressing the challenges facing us as a country.

Kweku Kwarteng

Communications Director