The protest on Saturday November 5, saw thousands of distraught demonstrators’ march through Ghana’s capital calling for the resignation of President Nana Akufo-Addo over deteriorating economic conditions.
Speaking to News Central, Executive Director, ASEPA and Convener Arise Ghana Mensah Thompson said, the government’s attitude towards the plight of the common man will be reason for more protests across the country.
The freefalling Cedi, rising cost of fuel, food costs has worsened living conditions in the country for which many have blamed President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Protesters clad in red waved placards and chanted ‘Akufo-Addo must go’ and ‘IMF no’ in reference to the government’s ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund for billions of dollars to hold up the economy.
Thomson added that in spite of the dire conditions of many citizens, Akufo-Addo’s address to the nation was bland and ‘full of empty rhetoric and shattered every iota of hope that people had, that the President can salvage the situation’.
Another protester Rafael Williams said the President “Has failed and we are asking him to resign. High fuel price increments are killing the people of Ghana.”
A protester said, “We don’t need NPP, we don’t need NDC. We are tired! This generation is a new generation and needs a new constitution…We shall keep protesting”
Thompson said, this demonstration is an indication and a warning to the President, because if there are no indication of practical steps at fixing the concerns of citizens, “the next protests will be far worse”.
In his call, human rights lawyer and Lead campaigner, ‘Ku Me preko Reloaded’, Martin Luther Kpebu sought the President’s resignation, adding that the economy has tanked in spite of government’s incoherent attempts at aggressive policy tightening.
He said ‘Akufo-Ado has not only broken his own promises of fixing the economy within 18-months, he has battled with the same problems for 6 years without solutions in sight. The import burden has equally caused a massive strain on the cedi,’ he added.
Arise Ghana said it has added its voice to the call by Kpebu and has therefore set November 15-17 as the next date of protests in the capital, Accra.
According to the World Bank, the country has 1 in every 4 person living on less than $2.15 per day. The protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations this year over the soaring cost of living that has made it even harder for the masses.
Kpebu said, it is clear ‘that the Akufo-Ado led government cannot stem the tide of worsening economic indices…to this end, the President must resign’