The Managing Director of the Ghana Publishing Company and convener of Let My Vote Count Alliance, David Asante, has alleged that Thursday’s demonstration under the auspices of the Inter-Party Coalition for National Sovereignty, christened ‘Aagbe wo’ demo was used by members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to outdoor former president, John Dramani Mahama, as presidential candidate for the 2020 election.
He claims the demonstration was designed by the largest opposition party to put forward its candidate for the upcoming general elections and not to protest the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence as was portrayed.
Speaking on TV3’s New Day, Mr. Asante observed that the rationale behind the demonstration was concealed.
“One has every right to question the rationale behind the demonstration, what is the rationale? To outdoor President John Mahama’s presidential bid because it was an NDC affair,” he told Bright Nana Amfoh.
“They call it a coalition, the only non-NDC person I saw was Bernard Monah. All the men who fronted the demonstration are NDC men, so the point must be made emphatically clear, it was an NDC demonstration,” he insisted.
As a leader of the Let My Vote Count Alliance, Mr. Asante prides himself in the fact that the group championed the rights of citizens to demonstrate without any undue hindrances from security agencies.
He specifically cited a court case the group won against the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney General in a ruling which directed that security agencies cannot use ex parte motions to prohibit public demonstrations.
“The point I’m trying to make is that we have gradually moved from using crude methods of shepherding demonstrations,” he said, justifying the impact of their court action.
Mr. Asante said it was refreshing that the police was able to maintain peace and order and provide security for all the demonstrators without any hitches.
He observed the conduct of the security agencies in shar contrast with how the same security agencies conducted themselves during demonstrations under Mahama’s administration.
According to him, the security services “deserve commendation for how peaceful they shepherded the few hundreds of NDC men who poured on the streets to demonstrate”.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana