Kumasi Residents Protest Sale Of Merchant Bank

Hundreds of residents of Kumasi Thursday took part in a demonstration against the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz.The protest march was organised by the Public Action Against Corruption and Abuse (PAACA), a pressure group. The demonstrators, clad in red and black, and holding placards, sang and danced as they marched through the streets, casting aspersions on the government. Some of the placards read �We need our Merchant Bank now�; �SSNIT contribution not for sale�; �Ghana workers are suffering�; and �Boys Abre enso yenti gyae� The protestors started their march from the Asem Park, near the Prempeh Assembly Hall, and went through the Roman Hill, Kejetia, Adum and finally to the Ridge Park, where their leaders addressed them. An altercation between the police and the demonstrators who decided to change their route from the originally approved one nearly marred the otherwise peaceful demonstration. Addressing the group, Mr Sammy Awuku, who is contesting the National Youth Organiser position of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), called on the people of Ashanti in particular, and Ghanaians in general, to kick against what he called the bad governance of the John Mahama-led administration. He also called for the rejection of the capitation grant that is being piloted by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in the Ashanti Region for two years now. Mr Ernest Owusu Bempah, the Deputy Communications Director of the National Democratic Party (NDP), claimed that the capitation exercise had resulted in untold hardships among the people of the region and called on them to resist its continuation. Other speakers addressed the crowd.