David Tamakloe, the Editor of the Ghanaian news portal WhatsUp News, recently voiced his critique of the government’s handling of the three-day #OccupyJulorbiHouse protests.
In a recent interview on the Happy Morning Show with Sefah Danquah, David Tamakloe drew attention to the historical context of protests in Ghana since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1992 and questioned the government’s response to peaceful demonstrators.
Tamakloe pointed out that Ghana has a long history of government criticism and peaceful protests, citing the popular, “Alliance for Change and the “Ku Me Preko” protests as significant examples.
He stressed that the current President of Ghana played a prominent role in those earlier protests, defending the rights of the demonstrators. However, Tamakloe expressed his bewilderment at the recent turn of events, where peaceful expressions of public frustration have allegedly resulted in physical and verbal abuse, often attributed to what he described as “illiterate foot soldiers.”
“If you ever heard the Alliance for Change, the Ku Me Preko still stands as one of the biggest if not the biggest protest in the country’s history led by now President Akufo-Addo. Some of these issues indeed landed in court and all that and he supposedly defended the protestors,” he stated.
“So how did it happen that under his tenure any attempt and every effort made at expressing the people’s frustrations to gov’t is subject led to physical abuses, verbal abuses from mostly illiterate foot soldiers,” he added.
In Tamakloe’s view, the government’s response to peaceful protests indicates a failure to fulfill the promises made to the Ghanaian people before coming into office. He suggested that the administration might be seeking a way to deflect attention from its perceived shortcomings.
“The only way I can understand this is perhaps the President and his handlers haven’t realized that they have failed Ghanaians. All the promises they have made to Ghanaians prior to coming into office have not been fulfilled, and they are probably looking for a way out for their failure. That is the only explanation you can get from their actions because, I mean, I could have thought that President Akufo-Addo is a democrat if I follow the history without knowing him, but what we are seeing under his tenure is worrying to the public,” Tamakloe remarked.
The #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration was organized by a group called Democracy Hub. The group is demanding that the government address the country’s economic problems and investigate allegations of corruption.
The protest took place from Thursday, September 21, 2023, until Saturday, September 23. Protesters attempted to march from the 37 Lorry Station to the Jubilee House, the seat of administration to voice their concerns.
The protesters, who were demonstrating against the government’s economic policies and alleged corruption, were met with excessive force from the police, on Thursday, September 21. Almost 50 protesters including journalists and lawyers were also arrested.
The incident sparked outrage from Ghanaians, who have accused the police of using excessive force against unarmed civilians.