The right to demonstrate

DEAR READER, please read this direct quote from a statement issued by the Ministry of Information, and signed by Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, a deputy Minister of Information.

“President John Evans Atta Mills has instructed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, to provide all groups wishing to embark on any demonstrations or protest march, with all necessary security and logistical support to do so”. (See The Chronicle of Tuesday June 30, 2009).

The paper reports Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa as noting that “the President's instruction was in line with his belief in the right of every individual to freely express himself/herself through demonstrations or other forms of protest, as enshrined in the Constitution.”

Was this catchpenny claptrap, this rubbish meant to advertise the democratic credentials of President Mills? If so Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa goofed badly.

In the first place, the freedom to assemble, including the freedom to take part in processions and demonstrations, is not within the power of the President to grant the citizens. Article 21 (1) (d) of Chapter 5 of the Constitution grants this freedom.

Consequently, whether any President believes in the right of citizens to demonstrate or not, is totally beside the point. Secondly, like all other rights and freedoms spelt out in the Constitution, the freedom to demonstrate is not absolute. The Constitution permits the passing of laws to regulate the exercise of these rights and freedoms, in order to prevent violence and chaos.

Thirdly, already in existence for almost fifteen years now, is a law that regulates what that law calls a “special event.” This law is the Public Order Act of 1994, or Act 491, which received the Presidential Assent on December 30, 1994 and gazetted the same day.

Article 2(1) of Part 1 states: “It shall be the responsibility of every police officer to take such steps as are reasonably necessary in any public place (a) to assist in the proper conduct of any special event by directing the route of such event to prevent obstruction of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.”

The police know this, and do not need any President or Minister to instruct them on what to do. By the way, what is a special event?

The Article on Interpretations of the Public Order Act states that a special event “means procession, parade, carnival, street dance, celebration of traditional custom, outdooring of traditional ruler, demonstration, public meeting and similar event, but does not include (a) religious meeting, (b) charitable, social or sporting gathering, (c) any lawful public entertainment or meeting.”

The President of this Republic is a lawyer with many years teaching of the subject under his belt. The Minister of Information and her deputy, Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa, are also lawyers. Yet, it seems as if they have no idea of what the Public Order Act is about. I hereby bring to their attention the relevant portion of the Act.

Under the Act, any person who desires to hold any special event must notify the Police not less than 5 days before the date of the special event.

The notification must be in writing, and signed by or on behalf of the organisers of the special event, and must specify (a) the place and hour of the special event; (b) the nature of the special event, (c) the time of commencement; (d) the proposed route and destination and (e) proposed time of closure of the event.

The notification must be submitted to a police officer not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police, or other police officer responsible for the nearest police station to the location or the special event.

Where the police officer so notified has reasonable grounds to believe that the special event “may lead to violence or endanger public defence, public order, public safety, public health or the running of essential services, or violates the right and freedom of other persons, he may request the organisers to postpone the special event to any other date or relocate the special event.”

The organisers of the special event have forty-eight hours within which to indicate their willingness to comply with the police request to postpone or relocate the special event.

Where the organisers refuse to comply with the police request, the police officer may apply to any judge or chairman of a Tribunal, for an order to prohibit the holding of the special event on the proposed date, or at the proposed location. The judge or chairman of a Tribunal may make an order to prohibit the holding of the special event, or to have it relocated or postponed to another date.

Though the Public Order Act of 1994 is an improvement on the Public Order Decree, 1972 (NRCD 68) and the Public Order (Amendment) Law, 1983 (PNDCL 48), I still have my layman's reservations about the law. In the first place, I feel that the law still gives the police too much power to come up with something frivolous and untenable reasons for requesting a postponement or relocation of a special event, especially where the proposed special event is aimed at the Government of the day.

The Police officer, to whom the application is made, may want to ensure his own tenure and prospects of promotion, and may not want to incur the displeasure of the powers that be.

Again, he himself may be a secret member of the party in power, and may not want his government to be embarrassed. Thirdly, when was the last time a court refused to grant the request of the police to stop a special event that has a political colouring?

Finally, this law is silent on whether the decision of a court on the matter can be appealed by the organisers or the police. Be that as it may, that is the law as it stands today. President Mills made a dangerous mistake when he gave that blanket instruction to the Inspector-General of Police.

Tomorrow, a group calling itself the Association of Armed Robbers will demand police security as they embark on a protest march to protest against the police efforts to stamp out armed robbery. The next day, it will be the turn of the Association of Marijuana Producers.

I do not know whether the President read the statement before it was issued. If he did, does he now see the egg which the police have thrown in his face, by deciding rather to comply with the decision of the court?

President Mills must be careful. The other day, he lowered his dignity as a person, and as the President, by submitting himself to a search at the airport to prove that he was not carrying cocaine to Britain.

He should stop his posturing as a populist do-gooder, always seizing the opportunity to take cheap political potshots at his opponents.