The Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, and security analyst, Irbard Ibrahim, were arrested by the Nima Police Command on Saturday morning for engaging in an illegal act.
The two were part of a Ghana-Togo Solidarity movement, who were said to be holding a peaceful march to draw the attention of local and international authorities to the political crisis in Togo.
“They threw me in the pickup as if I was a piece of charcoal… They drove us here and put us at counter back. They picked about 12 or 13 of us. The rest scattered. This is really not the democracy fought for…. I think that it brings to the fore that our police service is still in the archaic stone-age of doing things and that they can be instructed anyhow by forces outside of their remit…They are telling me that they received instruction from above,” Bernard Mornah told Citi News.
A statement signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr David Eklu, the Director-General of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service indicated that Mr Mornah had earlier served notice to the police of their intention to embark on a demonstration in support of some Togolese nationals in Ghana who had been agitating for what they termed “a change in government in Togo.”
It said the police initially indicated their preparedness to provide the required security for the demonstration but based on information it received that another group had planned to disrupt the demonstration, the police advised Mr Mornah to suspend the demonstration.
However he failed to heed to the advice and went ahead to organise the group who assembled at Kawukudi Park ready to embark on the demonstration.
“The Police Administration is once again appealing to persons or group of persons who intend to embark on any public event, especially during this Christmas period, to cooperate with the police to ensure the security of the demonstrators as well as members of the public,” the statement said.
Below is a statement copied to peacefmonline.com and signed by Bernard Mornah few days to the march
The Ghana Togo Solidarity Movement is formed to press home the sordid political situation in Togo. Since April 14, 1967 when Gnassingbe Eyadema ascended as President, the country has not seen real citizens’ participation in governance.
With the demise of Eyadema, many expected a return to the 1992 constitutional order with two terms presidential limit of five years per term but this was never to be.
With the imposition of Faure as president and the subsequent forced endorsement (not elections), he has served two terms and has appropriated a third with no attempt to respect citizens governance.
All peaceful manifestations to drum home the oppression and strangulation have been met with military assault and brutality. In recent times the opposition and allied groups have intensified peaceful demonstrations within the country to compel the end of the Dynastic Rule of 50 years.
The Ghana Togo Solidarity Movement is in full support of the struggling people of Togo and calls for an end to the situation.
The decaying situation is reference to mean the silent killings, the militarisation and the near refugee status that citizens are in.
We, in solidarity call for immediate cessation of the atrocities visited on these citizens whose only crime is to see to a restoration of Democratic governance.
On Saturday December 16, 2017 at 9am, we invite all Freedom, Peace and Justice lovers to a rally at the kawukudi Park in Accra.
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