WAHALA II against fuel price increases

For the second time in as many weeks, hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Accra in protest against the recent fuel price increases. Today?s demonstration, dubbed WAHALA II, attracted slightly more people than the first one ? which was held on March 3. It was organized by the Committee for Joint Action ? a grouping of the main opposition parties in the country led by the National Democratic Congress.

The demonstration started at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and ended at the Arts Centre where the demonstrators were addressed by leading opposition figures, including former President Jerry John Rawlings and the leader of the NDC, Prof. John Atta Mills.

The protest passed off peacefully even though there were occasional tense moments when it was feared that it could turn violent. For example, the march was held up for about ten minutes as the demonstrators engaged in verbal exchanges with police officers in a dispute over whether the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue ? leading to the central business district ? was part of the route. The police had cordoned off part of the Nkrumah Avenue ? Swanzy Shopping Arcade portion ? to prevent the demonstrators from marching through the central business district. It took organizers of the demonstration a lot of time (and physical effort) to get the demonstrators to use the approved route.

When the demonstration got to headquarters of the Trades Union Congress, the demonstrators chanted against the leadership of the TUC. They criticized the TUC leadership for not participating in the demonstration to put pressure on the government to reverse the fuel price increases.

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, a member of the NDC and one of the organizers of the protest march described the TUC as ?insensitive?. ?Look at what happened in Nigeria,? he said. ?When fuel prices were increased the labour union led the protests and ensured that the prices were reversed. That is a sensitive labour organization.?

The Committee for Joint Action intends to hold similar demonstrations in the regional capitals in the coming weeks ? all in an effort force the government to reverse the %)% increase in petroleum prices.

MORE LATER