Captain Smart And Barker-Vormawor Inform Police About Intention To Carry Weapons During June 4 Demonstrations

• Captain Smart and Oliver Barker-Vormawor are among organisers of an upcoming street protest on June 4 who have said they will carry weapons on the day
• They have said in a letter to the police that the weapons and the private security they would recruit are for their personal security
• The demonstration is to press the government to sit up in the wake of allegations of the sale of portions of the Achimota forest lands, the Agyapa deal, among others

Ahead of a potentially huge street protest that will start on June 4, organisers, including Captain Smart and Oliver Barker-Vormawor, have informed police they will carry weapons.

This information is contained in a letter to the police, portions of which have been published in a report by Accra-based Starr FM.

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The three-day demonstration has been triggered by the reported sale of portions of the Achimota forest lands, and the planned return of the Agyapa deal, among others, according to organisers.

Conveners of the demonstration who, according to the report sent the letter to the police, include broadcasters Captain Smart and Okatakyie Afrifa and #FixTheCountry’s Oliver Barker-Vormawor.

“We will bring our own security company to provide protection to demonstrators. All weapons held by demonstrators or by the contracted security personal will be for personal protection only; and all weapons will be duly permitted in accordance with the Arms and Ammunitions Act, 1972 (NRCD 9) e) Proposed route and destination: We expect that the Demonstrators will gather at Circle.

“The procession will move from Circle to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, where the Protestors will make a demand a slot on GTV to speak directly to the Nation and lay out our grievances, in accordance with Article 55(11), which guarantees fair opportunity to Ghanaians to present their programmes to the public through equal access to the state-owned media,” portions of the statement shared by Starr FM indicate.

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Another mammoth demo on June 21

Meanwhile, later this June, another demonstration will hit the Nana Akufo-Addo administration as a new coalition, Arise Ghana, reveal they will hit the streets on June 21, 2022.

Just like Oliver-Barker-Vormawor, Captain Smart and others, Arise Ghana say they are hitting the street to demand better from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

At the maiden press conference of the coalition on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, the leaders expressed displeasure over the economic hardships, worsening economic conditions, draconian taxes, state capture and land grabbing as well as the high cost of fuel in the country.

Insisting that the government is gradually making Ghana a failed state, Arise Ghana has demanded among other things an immediate reduction in fuel prices through the scrapping of crippling fuel taxes such as the sanitation levy.

The coalition also demands that government should not only withdraw E.I 144 and an end to the land grabbing of the Achimota Forest Reserve, but it should also repeal the Electronic Transaction Levy.

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Yentua Demo: 5 Emotional Videos as Ghanaians Hit Streets in Accra Against E-levy

In a previous report, YEN.com.gh reported that thousands of protestors hit principal streets in Accra on Thursday, February 10, 2022, to vent their displeasure against the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), passed recently.

The 1.75% E-levy was announced by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, during the 2022 budget presentation in Parliament in 2021. It will tax all electronic transactions, including MoMo, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances when passed into law.

Although President Nana Akufo-Addo said that the implementation of the levy will help provide more jobs for young people in Ghana, members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Coalition of Concerned Ghanaians kicked against it.

Source: YEN.com.gh