Mr. Kwesi Pratt Junior, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper says a High Court decision that every demonstration is potentially violent and therefore organisers of demonstrations need police permit is a bad decision that needs to be tested at the Supreme Court.
He said those with the means and the technical expertise therefore, must test the High Court ruling because it is a �complete affront to the Constitution.�
Mr. Pratt was speaking on Saturday as a panel member on Alhaji and Alhaji, a current affairs discussion programme on Accra-based Radio Gold 90.5 FM.
He said the decision was passed during the J.A. Kufuor administration and many people in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the time were so happy with the decision because it prevented the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) from organising a particular demonstration. Pratt is a leading member of the CJA pressure group.
�Now they are in opposition, and this has become precedent and therefore law and it can be applied against them� So when these happen, the fact of our being in government or of our being associated with governments should not be the determining factor, because nobody will be in government for ever and nobody will be in opposition for ever. It�s important that we go for principle.�
Pratt described a police directive banning all demonstrations till further notice as �worrisome� and one which if allowed to stand would undermine the right of citizens to protest.
The police had directed the public to suspend any mass activity that would require protection from the police, explaining in a statement issued by the Director-General in charge of Administration, DCOP Rose Bio Atinga, that the Service had committed a significant number of personnel to maintain law and order at the Supreme Court which is hearing the election petition by the NPP and therefore did not have enough men or resources to cater for other gatherings while court proceedings continued.
�The police have no business banning demonstrations in this country. They have no business even suggesting that demonstrations should not be held, it is not the business of the police,� Pratt emphasised.
He described demonstrations as a constitutional right of citizens, saying the trend of encroachment on the right is worrying and it is important that all pro-democratic forces in the country make sure that the police are not allowed to curb the rights of citizens.
�The police [are] behaving in such a way as to suggest that the right to demonstrate is no longer a right but a privilege and I�m worried about that situation too,� he said.
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