It is imperative for the Ghana Police Service to understand that, the peace of Ghana in this hard time depends largely on how the establishment enforces its authority, with the right attitudinal approach of its personnel in exercising the powers given to them by the 1992 constitution, most especially in handling citizens who intend to exercise their constitutional right through peaceful demonstration.
Considering contemporary issues on the occurrence of civil unrest in many countries like Nigeria, Lebanon, Bolivia, Chile, etc. in the world from 2019 to 2020 due to factors which are equally emerging in Ghana ranging from economic disparities, political grievances, and social discord, it is crucial for the Ghana Police Service to come to the realization that, apart from the factors mentioned above, that directly or indirectly trigger civil disturbances, the constant strategic denial of citizens from exercising their constitutional right by the Service through the use of the judicial architecture is gradually getting citizens frustrated which may end up accumulating anger waiting to explode.
Again, the abuse and the arrest of these demonstrators in exercising their rights can catalyse social media attention which can attract many citizens to hit the street to make it difficult for the institution to command and control, and as a result, may lead to civil disorder.
In my expected viewpoint the effort by the Police institution to use the legal approach to stop the Democracy Hub from demonstrating through the application letter claimed to have been served their lawyers came very late, aside its legal disagreement by both parties and so therefore, the Police should have managed to contain them with all the necessary tactics to aid them peaceful to their final destination, since clearly it was too late for the organizers to reached up to all their members to call off the scheduled demonstration and further engage them.
Sign
Anthony Acquaye ( MA in Security, KAIPTC)
Security Policy Expert at the Centre for Security Dialogue and Peace Advocacy
0556783703
