PIM praises President's call on AFAG

Accra, July 5, GNA - The People's Independent Movement (PIM) has commended President John Evans Atta Mills' directive to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to allow the Association for Accountable Governance (AFAG) to go ahead with the planned demonstration they had decided to embark upon, in defiance of a restraining court order.

It said the President's action, which is a safeguard of the principle of the liberty of the individual and people's rights, offers hope for good democratic governance in Ghana.

This is contained in a statement, signed by PIM's spokesman, Nana Addo-Aikins in Accra on Sunday.

The People's Independent Movement (PIM) represents the poor and the needy in society which is in addition to fighting for true independence and freedom for the ordinary Ghanaian

"The PIM is of the view, that IGP's compliance with the President's directive (which should of course be forthcoming), will better serve the national interest, since the people should rather see everything good with the President's directive which gives the individual, the right to demonstrate against government policies he does not agree with. "The argument that the President's directive flouts a court order and therefore opens him up for impeachment is most unfounded, since facts on the ground indicate, that the President gave the directive before the court order was made, the statement said.

"That even if it is true that the President's directive does flout a court order, all that the IGP has to do is to either go back to court to seek for an order to vacate the earlier order made or allow the time for the ex-parte order of the interim injunction to lapse before carrying out President's directive.

"All the confusing statements and strange propositions of the law in relation to the President's directive therefore need not engage any serious attention of Ghanaians since they should rather be seen as one of the usual 'talking shops' in Ghana politics; especially when there is nothing left to talk about a breach of a court order at a time when the Presidential directive was given before the court order was made. "The President's directive should be seen as having brought about peace on the political horizon at least for a time, as against the chaos and the confrontations that could possibly have arisen between opposing political forces in the face of AFAG's commitment to demonstrate in defiance of a restraining court order."

To the PIM, the fact that AFAG sees nothing wrong when they would decide to demonstrate in defiance of a court order but sees everything wrong with a Presidential directive that appears to be flouting this same court order creates doubts as to the sincerity of the intentions behind AFAG's planned demonstration.

"The changing attitudes of AFAG and the Association's shifting of the goal posts moment after moment, suggests that AFAG's planned demonstration has lost its steam after being deflated and made stale by the President's directive and subsequent events, making it necessary for AFAG to reconsider its decision.

On the international scene, the PIM heartily welcomes the U.S President, Barrack Obama and his wife to Ghana and also welcomes any constructive package they may decide to offer Ghana and Africa. 05 July 09