We won’t give up despite brute force - LMVCA

Pressure group – Let My Vote Count Alliance – has served notice it will not back down on its demands for a new voters’ register, despite being met by brute police force during a protest Wednesday.

Members of the LMVCA and its allied civic groups and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) were tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets after having veered off from the approved route to picket at the Electoral Commission – a vital state installation.

Dozens got injured in the melee including leading NPP member Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko.

In a statement after the demonstration which came to an abrupt end, the LMVCA said: “The Let My Vote Count Alliance and its allied civic groups consider the highhandedness of the police in today’s protest march, a threat to our democracy that must be quickly checked and not allowed to become the order.

“The Police might have succeeded in ending the protest march albeit prematurely by their expression of unreasonable brute force, but let them know that our spirits are fired up because we know our demand is just. Many of our colleagues have been physically manhandled, sustained various degrees of injury and bleeding. Others collapsed because they could not stand the strong smell from the 20 or so canisters fired by the police.”

“We are not backing down on our request today or tomorrow. The Ghana Police must be made to understand that, they might have the might of the guns and other fire arms, but they are certainly not mightier than the collective will of the people,” the statement signed by its convener David Asante.

“If this is how the Police is going to manage the processes leading up to the 2016 elections, then Ghanaians should brace themselves because they have clearly shown us their intentions.”

Below is the full statement:

“Today is yet another sad day for Ghana. The State Police, who are paid from our taxes and supposed to provide security and protect lives, are the very ones that turned around to unleash violence on us.

“Nothing and absolutely nothing warranted such excessive use of force as applied by the Police on the peaceful protest march of the armless members of LMVCA, MFC, AFAG and several other trade groups and associations.

“The only crime of these Ghanaians perhaps is that, we want the Electoral Commission to discard the 2012 biometric voters’ register and compile a fresh credible one for the 2016 elections.

“What can be wrong or unlawful with this harmless demand? The whole world witnessed what happened.

“The Let My Vote Count Alliance and its allied civic groups consider the highhandedness of the police in today’s protest march, a threat to our democracy that must be quickly checked and not allowed to become the order.

“The Police might have succeeded in ending the protest march albeit prematurely by their expression of unreasonable brute force, but let them know that our spirits are fired up because we know our demand is just. Many of our colleagues have been physically manhandled, sustained various degrees of injury and bleeding. Others collapsed because they could not stand the strong smell from the 20 or so canisters fired by the police.

“We are not backing down on our request today or tomorrow. The Ghana Police must be made to understand that, they might have the might of the guns and other fire arms, but they are certainly not mightier than the collective will of the people.

“If this is how the Police is going to manage the processes leading up to the 2016 elections, then Ghanaians should brace themselves because they have clearly shown us their intentions.

“We would to however send a strong warning that, we will resist every form of oppression so long as our demand is just.”

...Signed...

David Asante

(Convener)