General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has charged President Nana Akufo-Addo to secure the country and tackle indiscipline within the security services.
The NDC chief scribe affectionately called General Mosquito said if the president feels threatened by the street protests and want them no more, then he must ensure that the country is governed well and ensure the rule of law reigns else they will stage series of demonstrations to demand better governance irrespective of whose image is being dented.
Asiedu Nketiah said this while addressing a crowd of protesters in Accra Tuesday.
“They [the government] did not want us to protest. They said our protest will spread COVID-19 but we are being killed every day by hoodlums packed into the security services. The bullet kills faster than COVID and so until the killing stops, we will demonstrate,” he said.
The demonstration dubbed ‘March for Justice’ is to seek justice for the families of a social activist Ibrahim Mohammed (Kaaka) who was murdered by a mob last week.
Kaaka’s death sparked an angry protest at Ejura in the Ashanti region last Tuesday where a joint task force of police and military shot sporadically into the civilians, killing two.
6 others were injured in the process, sparking a national conversation on insecurity in the country.
President Akufo-Addo later instructed Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery, to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the shootings.
But the NDC believes the probe will not bring any difference, arguing that recommendations from similar probes in the past were rejected by the government after it indicted persons close to the corridors of power.
The party has cited the rejection of the Emile Short Commission of Inquiry recommendations after the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-elections violence as a basis for their position.
Asiedu Nketiah who pledged his party’s support for the demonstration said he believes the men in uniform that shot into the protesters at Ejura were members of pro-NPP vigilante groups who managed to secure employment into the security service after their party won power.
“If the president doesn’t want people to protest, he should let the country be secured,” he said to the crowd.
“Let there be peace. If you don’t want us to demonstrate remove all your vigilante boys from the military and the police, “he charged.
Present at the party is top NDC officials, including National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo; Vice Chairman, Sofo Azorka and other national executives.
