The former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, has raised questions regarding the limitations placed on the #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration, particularly the prohibition of protesters from approaching Jubilee House.
He expressed his concerns about the perceived disparity in access to government premises between different administrations.
The concerns by the former Auditor-General come on the back of the ongoing #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration by a group calling itself Democracy Hub to demand accountability from the government.
He questioned whether there were two categories of Ghanaians, with some having the right to protest at the Flagstaff House ((now Jubilee House) as done by the OccupyGhana demonstrators while others did not have the same access.
He questioned the reasons behind the restrictions placed on the #OccupyJulorbiHouse protesters, particularly when past demonstrations had been allowed in similar locations.
“Now one of the things that came to my head when I heard about the demonstration was why Jubilee House. Then I remembered that OccupyGhana was born out of Occupy Flagstaff House. So some groups of Ghanaians have protested at the Jubilee House.
“So the question which was running through my mind was do we have two types of Ghanaian? Some have the right to occupy the Flagstaff House others don’t have the right to occupy the same place now called Jubilee House are we saying that the current presidency is on a higher pedestal compared to the previous ones? So the previous ones people could access but the current one cannot be occupied,” He stated
He acknowledged that the police may have legal authority to exercise certain restrictions, but called for a broader discussion on the right to peaceful assembly and whether these rights were upheld consistently across different administrations.
“They stop them to deny people their rights. The police said that no complaint had been filed so there was no violence. This means that if I slap him and he does go to the police, then there is no violence. I think we have all seen clips and video footage everywhere on social media on how people were being handled, so I plead with him.
“I don’t know if that is the position of the law, that until we report violence then there is fine, correct me if I am wrong. But if that is not the position of the law, then the evidence is there for all of us to say. Let’s grant without admitting that the police have the legal right which they have exercised. For instance, yesterday, when the demonstrators were getting to the jubilee house, there was a human wall formed by the police and they sat on the floor,” he added.
Source: ghanaweb.com
