The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Cephas Arthur, has stated that his outfit was not in a position to provide maximum security for the picketing by the Let My Vote Count Alliance, hence, the need for the injunction.
According to him, the Police service will embark on a five-day operation to fight crime in the country, and raising personnel for the demonstration would be suicidal to national security.
In an interview with Kasapa FM yesterday, Supt Arthur said the Police were not against the demonstration, but were only interested in the security of the country.
“The Electoral Commission (EC), in the wisdom of the police, is an information center which must be kept from mass action and that is why the police took this action,” he said.
He indicated that “If we (Police) grant permission to a group who will call for a lot of our personnel within this period, then it will not be safe for the people of Ghana.”
He added that the injunction was to postpone the demonstration to next month for which they will be much prepared.
The police obtained an order from an Accra based circuit court restraining the organizers of the demonstration from going ahead with the planned picketing yesterday.
An order letter to the group signed by the Circuit Court Registrar, Seidu Yusif said, “It is hereby ordered that the organizers of ‘Let My Vote Count Alliance’ are restrained from demonstrating on September 29, but fix another date in October to give the police adequate time to prepare to ensure safety of the demonstrators and the general public.”
Speaking on the same program, Samson Lardi Ayenini, a legal practitioner, condemned the move by the Police to prevent the group from picketing at the EC.
He described the move by the police as a “deliberate measure” to mislead the court in order to prevent the group from demonstrating, and called on the court to take an action against the prosecutor.
“The Prosecutor who handled the case wasn’t truthful to the court and he should be punished accordingly.
“It’s an abuse of the court process and it must be condemned because it is not fair. It seeks to make nonsense of the process and must not be allowed to continue,” he said.
He, however, argued that there was no need for another demonstration by the pressure group, saying “they should let their leaders go to the EC office to present their petition and there is no need for them to stage another demonstration.”
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