Ghana: 'Volta for Change' group charges police to be ‘professional’ in performing duties

A pro-NPP group, Volta for Change has expressed shock at the Volta Regional Police for preventing the group from embarking on a peaceful march, Saturday. The group in a statement signed by its Spokesperson, Abraham Futukpor called on the Ghana Police Service to be “professional in their duties and protect all citizens with respect, no matter the backgrounds of the persons involved.” The group had alleged that police in the region had prevented it from embarking on a health walk despite prior agreement to organize the march. It said the police had been notified ahead of the march as legally required. “After several meetings, discussions and agreements on a march, routes of the march and conduct of the organisers with the Volta Regional Police, even as recent as just last night, we were shocked by the sudden U-turn of the police to halt a peaceful march for change,” the statement read.

But the group alleged that on the morning of the march some political forces in the region had influenced the police to stop the march. “We converged at the grounds to start the health walk then a man appeared and said he was a police officer but was not in a police uniform. He said they had picked information from the regional minister that an NDC group claimed the name we are using belonged to them,”

Meanwhile, Police in the Volta Region have denied claims that it bowed to political pressure to stop a pro-NPP group from embarking on a peaceful march. The Volta Regional Police Commander Peter-King Yentumi Gynae says  they had been notified of a health walk but they later picked up intelligence that the group was planning a demonstration. “I sent one of my men to the place to verify but I do not know how he handled the situation… but I sent him there because of the signal we got, he added.