Does going to Jubilee House make your message more sensible? - Ben Ephson slams Arise Ghana

Arise Ghana holds two-day anti-government protest

Day 1 of protests descends into chaos as police clash with protesters

Day 2 passes off incident-free even as police readies to charge 29 persons

Editor-In-Chief of the Insight Newspaper, Ben Ephson, has chastised leaders of the Arise Ghana demo for reneging on their agreements with the Police relative to route and

Read full articledestination for Day One of their mass action.

According to the veteran journalist, it was unacceptable that a group enters an agreement to do one thing and unilaterally change their minds, more so when dealing with law enforcement officers.

He defended the action by the Police to block the protesters stressing that irrespective of which party was in power, that decision is one that the Police would stick to on any day.

“I think that the leaders of the Arise Ghana demonstration have a responsibility for anything that happens because if you’ve agreed with the police that these are the routes we are going to take, the police said, ‘we’ll not allow you on this route,’ so, the police blocked the routes you originally wanted to use and you wanted to break through that, no responsible police officer or commander in charge will allow you,” he said.

“That one, no matter which government is in power … they [police] will not allow you. I think that the leaders have a responsibility to bear for their decision to go back on their agreed routes with the police,” Mr Ephson stressed.

With respect to the destination of the protesters, Ephson lamented why they would choose to end their march at the Jubilee House.

He averred that marching to the place added little or nothing to the demands or the action that they were seeking. “What is so special that if you don’t go to Jubilee House, you can’t make your views known?”

“You want to go pass Jubilee House, the police says, ‘we won’t allow you,’ you agree: ‘Ok, we’ll go through a different route, then march towards there [Jubilee House] …

"Why? If you don’t go to Jubilee House, can’t you make your views known? Does going to Jubilee House make your message more sensible? If you have a message, pass it on,” he stated.

Ephson lambasted the organizers for wanting to "take the law into their hands," by their action, which move he said had resulted in risking the lives of people.

“I repeat: I will not adhere to any group which will renege on an agreement with the police. Why do you want to go to Jubilee House? Has God told you if you go to Jubilee House, you’ll be heard better? You put people’s lives at risk,” he concluded.

The veteran journalist and pollster was speaking on the Class Morning Show on Wednesday, June 29.

Arise Ghana, an amalgamation of groups and individuals organized the two-day protest to highlight the rising cost of living and issues of bad governance.

On Day One of the protest, despite a court order relative to time and route of the protest, the leaders insisted on following a route other than the one ordered by the court.

An insistence by the Police that they obey the agreed upon route resulted in the skirmishes - 12 Police officers were injured whiles 29 people were also arrested for their roles in the violence.

Day two of the protest ended without any incident as protesters marched from El-Wak to Parliament where they delivered a petition to the legislature.

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