Arise Ghana, a pressure group, says it will stage a second demonstration on August 22, 2022, in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Mr Bernard Mornah, a lead convener of the group announced at a press Conference in Accra Tuesday.
He said the second round of the “KromAyeShi” demonstration was necessitated by the continuous hardship confronting the average Ghanaian, and the need to express those grievances.
Mr Mornah said some of the hardships the Ghanaian people faced were the high cost of fuel, high rate of inflation, rapid depreciation of the cedi, and high level of youth unemployment, among others.
“A significant reduction in fuel prices, stabilisation of the Ghana cedi, repeal of crippling fuel taxes such as the sanitation levy, the Special Petroleum Tax, the Price Stabilisation and Recovery Levy, the new energy sector levy among others will reduce the hardship on the Ghanaian people,” he said.
Mr Mornah added that, the Kumasi demonstration would also ask Government to repeal the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) on Mobile Money transactions and other electronic transactions and levies such as the COVID-19 levy of 1 per cent on the VAT Flat Rate and the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL).
“We believe that these demands if heeded to, will go a long way to ameliorate the plight of suffering Ghanaians and provide a respite for all of us,” he said.
Mr Mornah said the Arise Ghana Group had also scheduled a public forum on the theme, “Ghana’s Current Socio-Economic Position and The Prospects of an IMF Program,” on July 20, 2022, at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Hall, Accra, where experts and scholars would speak on how to solve Ghana’s economic challenges.
The convener called on the police to drop charges against protesters arrested during the first demonstration in Accra.
“We maintain that all those arrested are innocent and never culpable for any breach of any law, as claimed by the Police. Consequently, we demand that the police immediately drop these charges against the 31 protestors.”
Mr Mornah said one Nii Ayi Mensah, a victim of the violence during the first demo, hit by a rubber bullet in the right eye, had been declared blind in that eye by doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Eye Center.
