#FixTheCountry campaigners arrested at court hearing

Social media sensation Efia Odo and thirteen others have been arrested by the police for demonstrating at the court complex in Accra.

The 14 were part of #FixTheCountry conveners who had visited the court for a case hearing.

According to reports, the group was demonstrating on the shoulders of the road in front of the law court complex where the Criminal Division of the Court was hearing a case by the police seeking to place an injunction on the #FixTheCountry demonstration.

The members held placards protesting in front of the court.

Not long afterwards, the police came and arrested them.

The campaigners have in the last two months demanded to demonstrate their frustrations with what they say is the worsening living conditions in the country.

Their request has been met with stiff resistance from the Ghana Police Service, which has cited prevailing Covid-19 restrictions as reasons for not allowing them.

According to our reporter Francis Ntow who was at the scene, the arrest occurred shortly after the High Court adjourned proceedings to deliver a ruling on the substantive case at 1:30 p.m.

In that case, the Attorney General is seeking to bar the #FixTheCountry campaigners from embarking on a protest.

This also happened few minutes after the High Court dismissed an initial objection that sought to stop the Attorney General from representing the Police Service in the case.

The lawyers for the leaders of the protest objected to the Attorney General’s appearance in court on Monday, arguing that the case was purely and solely within the domain of the Ghana Police Service to prosecute.

Nonetheless, the judge, Justice Ruby Aryeetey of the Criminal Division of the High Court agreed with the submissions of the Attorney General in the matter and ruled against the campaigners.

The account provided by some of the conveners indicated that a police officer on duty at the court instructed them to leave the premises.

However, the officer later called for backup, leading to their arrest, which was led by the Director of Operations at the Accra Regional Police Command.

One of the conveners, Brownson Adatsi who spoke to The Ghana Report affirmed that no reason was given by the police for the arrest.

“I don’t know the reason for which they have picked them up because they haven’t done anything. They haven’t disturbed the public peace, neither have they disturbed the court proceedings,” he said.

He went on to say that, “They were at the entrance, and they have the right to hold whatever they were holding. We will follow it up and know what is next for us.”

Mr Adatsi expressed concern over the action of the police, and said, “The police, which should be educating people are rather flouting the laws. This is a good sign for our struggle, and we are all going to meet them wherever they want to meet us.”

Police challenging Fix The Country protests

A recent Supreme Court ruling that set aside an earlier injunction on the #FixTheCountry demonstration is no reason to suppose that the planned civil disobedience will happen.

That is according to the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge. The PRO revealed the understanding of her office on Tuesday evening in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM.

According to Tenge, the Supreme Court’s call did not also bar the police from serving the convenors of the protest with a preventive notice. She denied allegations that the police is continuing to interfere with the demonstration in contravention to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“It is not now that the police is seeking a restraining order against the convenors. This case has been pending in court after the police filed an ex parte motion that restrained the conveners of #Fixthecountry from embarking on their demonstration. But because we went on an ex parte, for which the court granted an injunction, we have to go back to the court and this time around, on notice. We hope to extend our restriction,” Tenge said.