A high court in Ghana says the hardship protest planned by civil society groups in the west African nation cannot hold.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
High court Justice Abena Afia Serwaa upheld a request by Ghana’s police to ban civil society groups from carrying out protests between July 31 and August 6 after the police told the court that they would not be able to provide security to protesters.
The police said some of their personnel have been posted for political rallies and election campaigns, and they would not guarantee the protection of protesters, reported The Straight Times.
Protest organiser Mensah Thompson said citizens have a right of protest and elections should not be excuses for blocking it.
“Young people are poised to demonstrate with or without the approval of the authorities. A time comes when they will spontaneously jump on the streets and we will have a ‘Kenya’ on our hands.”
Ghana has been hit by high inflation, fiscal crisis, currency depreciation and foreign exchange crisis.
In April 2024, it was unable to secure a workable debt deal with two bondholder groups in its drive to restructure $13 billion of international bonds.
This is as Nigerian youths plan a nationwide ‘EndBadGovernance’ protest to demonstrate against economic slump and high cost of living on August 1.
Nigeria is hard hit by inflation of 34.2 percent in June 2024, with food costs skyrocketing.
Efforts have been made to dissuade Nigerian protesters from embarking on the demonstration, but they have all fallen on dear ears.
Some groups have pulled out of the protest, citing politicisation and ethnicisation of the planned demonstration.
The wave of protests is hitting African nations as the economy of various countries struggle from global inflation, covid-induced slump and internal economic mismanagement.
Youths demonstrated in Kenya a few weeks ago over tax hike, leading to the death of of 39 people, according to Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). Civil society groups say it is twice or three times that number.
Youths also demonstrated last week in Uganda over economic mismanagement and mal-governance.
