– Urges protesters to sit on the streets
MAVERICK POLITICIAN, Mr. Charles Kofi Wayo, has urged the anti-Representation of the People Representation (Amendment) Bill (ROPAB) protesters to change their mode of demonstration by adopting an ?Orange Revolution?, reminiscent of what happened in The Ukraine, to put more pressure on the government to withdraw the controversial law.
He said since the government had demonstrated absolute defiance to the demands of the masses, the only antidote to be used by the anti-ROPAB demonstrators was to embark upon the ?Orange Revolution? by sitting on the streets until the government listened to their call.
?The government is insensitive to the plight of the people. The government does not respect the views of the masses. We need to demonstrate seriously and put more pressure on them to withdraw the law,? he advocated.
?We have demonstrated on the fuel price increase, but the government did not do anything and so we cannot continue to demonstrate and go and sit back where the government refuses to listen. We must ensure that we achieve the mission and if we cannot achieve it, then there was no need to demonstrate at all,? he said.
Speaking to The Chronicle yesterday, Mr. Wayo noted that the demonstrators did not have teeth to bite, saying if they had teeth to bite they would have sat on the streets until the government took a positive action on their demand.
According to the former NPP guru, the introduction and passage of the controversial bill has polarized and divided the whole nation.
He said the beauty of democracy was that the voices of the people be heard, but unfortunately, the ruling government does not respect the voices of the people.
Mr. Wayo noted that the demonstration was a battle to ensure that the government would listen, and therefore the protesters should re-educate the masses to understand further the pros and cons so that more people would come out to render their displeasure.
Dismissing assertions that the demonstration was at the instance of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Wayo said, ?Those who say the protesters were organized by the NDC have no brains.
The fact is that we need to put more pressure and fight until the government backed down.?
According to him, the government?s haste in introducing the bill and its failure to listen to the public outcry amounted to an insult. ?It clearly shows that the government is not concerned about the plight of Ghanaians.?
He underscored that unemployment, the rate of Guinea worm, current malnutrition, health-related problems, sanitation problems, water crisis among others, are the pressing needs, and urged the government to take the above issues more seriously rather than wanting to bulldoze its way out to pass the bill without consensus.
Mr. Wayo expressed concern about the confusion that erupted on Tuesday when anti-ROPAB demonstrators staged their second demonstration.
The second demonstration on Tuesday was marred at the closing point, when protesters clashed with the police, with the latter firing tear gas and deploying their water canons at the former.
The irate protesters also hurled stones at the police and few people got injured in the process.
Source: GhanaWeb
