CJA go ahead with Tamale protest

....Despite Police hiding behind flimsy excuses to curtail civil freedoms

Over the weekend the Committee for Joint Action went ahead to organize a protest march against the backdrop of intimidation and threat from the security services and other groups linked to the government. This was the second in the series of demos by the CJA against what they term as the harsh living conditions that Ghanaians are suffering from the bad governance of the NPP administration. For the second successive time the police service tried in vain to curtail the protest by adopting some very crude tactics and hiding behind some very flimsy excuses. The CJA, in conformity with the public order act , notified the police service more that two weeks in advance of their intention to demonstrate in Tamale. Just like in the first demo that took place on 11th December 2007 the police alleged that they are short on personnel due to the upcoming CAN 2008 and the fragile security situation in the Upper East. Even before the troubles in Bawku the police were citing lack of personnel and were cautioning the CJA to put their protest on hold for lack of personnel. This was the exact script during the 11th December demo. In their attempt to go to all lengths to stop the image damaging protest, they managed to obtain a court injunction to restrain the CJA from going ahead with the march. They however failed to appropriately serve the organizers and adopted the desperate measure of pasting the injunction on a hotel wall and going ahead to launch a media campaign to create panic among the CJA. Conversant with the tactics of the police, the leadership of the CJA countered back by coming out strongly to defy the threats and declare their intentions to go ahead with the demo. Backed by solid legal advice one of the leaders the CJA Kwesi Pratt urged the masses to turn up the following day while the police command continued to threaten they could not guarantee the safety of the protesters and will hold he leaders of the march liable should anything go awry.. A Group calling itself the PROGRESIVE ACTION GROUP surfaced in the evening of 11th January declaring chaos and mayhem if the protest went ahead. This group claimed that their investments in anticipation of the CAN 2008 tournament stood in dangers in the protest came on and that they would employ every means necessary to stop it from happening. The reaction of the police was a tacit acceptance of this new group and their threats . The CJA stuck to their plans and organized a well attended demonstration in Tamale on the 12th of January without incident. When the march was over the crowd converged at the Tamale Jubilee part to hear speeches from their leaders and they got a nasty reminder of the plans the security agencies had in store for them. A military helicopter flew very low over the crowd and spread massive dust on the demonstrators causing panic among them. It is amazing that the people who were complaining bitterly about the lack of civil liberties while they were in opposition are now adopting every means to curtail these liberties now that they are in power. It is however refreshing that there are people in this country who have dedicated themselves to fight for freedom and justice without fear in any circumstance. People like Kwesi Pratt have dedicated their live to lead this fight and deserve commendation and praise. Unlike others who have sold out and followed the corrupting influence of money he stands giantly in the way of oppression and tyranny. The freedoms we have in this country was not granted but earned through hard battles and we will fight any day to keep it that way.