The Minority group in Parliament intends to proceed with its planned protest on Tuesday, September 12, despite the fact that the court has not yet addressed the injunction application filed against the initially scheduled protest on September 5.
On Friday, the court rejected the preliminary objection raised by the lawyers representing the Minority MPs and instructed the police to rectify certain irregularities in the injunction application.
The Minority MPs, represented by their lawyer, Godwin Edudzi Tamekloe, had raised concerns about the police submitting the injunction application without authorization from the Attorney General. They argued that this practice violated the State Proceedings Act, which grants the Attorney General the authority to initiate civil proceedings on behalf of the republic.
However, the court ruled that the Police are empowered by the Public Order Act to initiate actions to prevent processes but noted that filing the application in the name of the Republic was irregular.
Justice Edward Twum, presiding over the case, allowed the police the opportunity to rectify the deficiency by filing the action in the name of the Ghana Police Service or the Inspector General of Police. He emphasized that the case would not be dismissed purely on technical grounds.
Following the ruling, Edudzi Tamekloe, counsel for the MPs, requested that the court consider the substantive injunction application. Nevertheless, the court granted the police permission to amend the application and adjourned the case until September 18.
After the court proceedings, Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC’s Communications Officer, announced that the protest would take place on September 12, even though the injunction application had not been heard yet.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the #OccupyBoG protest are scheduled to meet with the police later today to discuss the planned demonstration on September 12.
