By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Sunyani, (Bono), April 22, GNA – Mr Jerry Ahmed Shaib, the Second Deputy Minority Whip and Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe, on Wednesday expressed abhorrence about what he described as the ‘weaponization’ of institutions by the government.
“It’s actually regressive and so alarming that almost every institution is being weaponized by the government of the day; what is happening to us. So can’t we do our multi-party democracy again?” he questioned.
Mr Shaib expressed the concern when he spoke to the media after he joined hundreds of aggrieved supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a street protest in Sunyani, the Bono Regional capital on Wednesday.
Dubbed “Yensuro Ahunahuna Demo”, the protesters, wearing branded black or red ‘T’ shirts, held placards with inscriptions like “No freedom of speech”, “Pay workers their salaries”, “Aboboyaa Aban” and “No freedom no peace”, and paraded through the principal streets of Sunyani, amid heavy police presence.
The street protest was to register the displeasure of the NPP on what the party described as “the government-sponsored attack on free speech and our democracy”.
It followed the arrest and detention of Mr Abubakar Yakubu, popularly known as ‘Baba Amando’ and Mr Kwame Baffoe also known as “Abronye”, the Sunyani East Constituency Officer and the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP respectively.
Mr Shaib said: “If you phone in to an FM or TV station, the next thing is that they just track and arrest you and they started those arrests long ago.
“A Muslim and his calibre, people even have the effrontery to use the social media to portray that the former Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia chews pork and takes alcohol.
“Even what didn’t they say about the former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo”, the MP stressed.
Mr Shaib noted that the government had already failed Ghanaians, unable to fulfil the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Election 2024 campaign promises.
“And just the fact that you promise the people to sign on to the NPP’s development ticket and if you can’t do that, then you have to be quiet.
“You can’t just go round, arrest and detain people basically because they have made some colours on their Facebook page,” he stated.
In a related interview, Mr Yakubu regretted that over the past six months, the government had been using state machinery to intimidate the youth of the country, describing President John Dramani Mahama as one of the greatest beneficiaries of free speech.
He emphasised that the good people of the nation expected the President to fulfil his Election 2024 campaign promise of enhancing the welfare of cocoa farmers and building a resilient economy to create a better society for all.
Mr Yakubu expressed concern about rising youth unemployment, worrying that People with Disabilities (PwDs) could not get decent jobs.
Mr Yakubu reaffirmed his dedication to uphold and defend free speech and to serve a voice for the vulnerable in society.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah