CJA: We'll go ahead with "People's Jubilee March"

Accra, Feb. 19, GNA - The Committee for Joint Action (CJA) on Monday said it would go ahead with the "People's Jubilee Procession" on March 6 in spite of objections from the Police.

Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, Spokesman, said arguments so far raised by the Police in their letter to them, had been that of inconvenience and that although they sympathised with the Police, the CJA was ready to regulate the procession without their (Police) assistance.

"We do not believe there is the slightest risk either to ourselves or the public and we are quite happy to regulate our own procession without Police assistance," he told a press conference in Accra. The CJA last Tuesday announced that it was organising "People's Jubilee Procession" in Accra on March 6, the day of the Golden Jubilee of Ghana's independence.

"This will be a procession for the ordinary people, who have been excluded from the official celebrations and who wish to commemorate independence as the popular revolutionary event that it really was," Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, said at a press conference in Accra last Tuesday. Calling on Ghanaians from all walks of life to join the march in addition to true Nkrumaists and Pan-Africanists, he said, the march would start at 0900 hours from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and end at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum where tributes and the laying of wreaths in honour of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and other fallen heroes of independence.

Mr Opoku on that day said the Police had been duly informed of the procession and as the law provided they were expected to turn out to steward the procession and indeed celebrate with them.

But after last week's press conference a series of debates ensued, including a letter from the Police to the CJA on Wednesday February 14, requesting a two-week postponement of the procession.

The Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service advised the CJA to postpone its planned march on March 6 because the Police would not be able to offer security protection to the members of the Committee.

The Greater Accra Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police Douglas Akrofi Asiedu, said the majority Police officers and men would be detailed for the anniversary parade, which falls on the same day. "Foreign Heads of State, dignitaries, VVIPs and visitors shall arrive in the country to witness the occasion and the Police shall provide the necessary security.

"All this indicates that the greater majority of Police personnel shall be overburdened during the period.

"We, in turn have rejected the Police objection and indicated that we will go ahead as announced," he said.

"We wish to pay tribute to the organised masses of ordinary Ghanaians and the progressive political leadership that made independence possible.

"We are certainly not looking for opportunities to embarrass the Government. On the other hand, if the truth is unpalatable to some sections of society, or if honouring our heroes embarrasses some people or diminishes their self-importance, then we humbly suggest that it is these people and not us who should reconsider their positions." He said the Police had no right under the Public Order Law to interfere with their procession and that the letter from the Police did not meet the requirements of the Public Order Act and had no effect. "More importantly the Police have not established the formal or substantive basis for an application to the Court under the Public Order Act for an order prohibiting the 'Peoples' Procession'," Mr Opoku said. He said the Police's constitutional duty to support the exercise of citizens' constitutional rights overrode considerations of administrative convenience.

Mr Opoku's said CJA's insistence on why the march should come on was based on the fact that the official programme was narrow and exclusive and that it was not the CJA alone that was complaining. "The leadership of the Nkrumaist parties, the CPP and PNC have said so. The largest minority party the NDC has said so and other social groupings have said so."

He asked why the major events that appeared to have political, intellectual or cultural significance were strictly by invitation. "Why is it that the highlighted entertainment and social events carry price tags that make them inaccessible to all but the rich? Nowhere is there a street party or a free concert; events through which ordinary people can express themselves creatively and freely," he said Mr Opoku said the independence revolution was nothing if it was not a declaration that we would no longer tolerate "business as usual".

"Will we celebrate this golden jubilee by rejecting our own creativity and self-empowerment?" He asked, saying, "we as a nation were doomed if the people continued to repeat mistakes over and over again in the arguments that "this is the way things have been done.... "Let us lift our eyes above this partisan approach and for once try and do things for the country."

Mr Opoku alleged that the country was more divided today than at any point in its history and "we are indeed interested in unity. However, we want substance and not just appearance. Genuine unity and stability will come from open, tolerant engagement about our differences. We cannot achieve unity by silencing dissent. "The effort to tightly control every aspect of the jubilee and create a false media image of national consensus and support for the ruling elite's agenda has already failed," he said.