Agona Swedru NDC Gives Police 24hr Ultimatum -To Release Arrested Drivers

The National Democratic Congress in Agona West has given government a 24-hour ultimatum to release the 32 drivers who were arrested over last Monday’s demonstration at Agona Swedru where some drivers blocked sections of the road leading to Agona Swedru.

The drivers took the action to protest against the bad state of their roads.

At a press conference held at the party’s office at Agona Swedru, constituency secretary for the party Emmanuel Korley indicated that they will resort to the law court if the 32 drivers are not released.

“As a political party we are not going to go contrary to the rules and the laws of the country we will go according to the laws probably we can apply for an application to bring the case forward so that we can seek some kind of release for them but if that fails we will resort to court action against the government,” the constituency secretary said.

According to the constituency secretary, no proper charges were proffered against the 32 drivers adding that the drivers had a peaceful demonstration devoid of violence.

“If you look at what the drivers did it was non-partisan and peaceful so I don’t see why they should be arrested because the way the police were shooting around it was unprofessional and once you go through this level you cause the people to also react and this is wrong” Emmanuel Korley added.

“We want them to be released with immediate effect because this is wrong,” the constituency secretary said.

Constituency chairman for the NDC at Agona West Maxwell Kusi Quist added that the NDC has no agenda behind the demand but want to ensure that that the proper thing is done.

“The drivers who demonstrated had a mix of political party members so I don’t agree with certain individuals who are peddling falsehood that the NDC is behind the demonstration,” party chairman Maxwell Quist said.

He indicated that some passer-bys were also arrested in addition to the 32 drivers adding that those passer-bys were innocent of any wrongdoing.

“The Police should have investigated well before making any arrest,” he said.

Residents and drivers who use the Agona Swedru-Winneba road on Monday, November 4th, 2019 demonstrated over the poor state of the road.

The demonstrators blocked the access roads making it difficult for pedestrians to cross the stretch that connects Swedru and Winneba through to Bawjiase.

Clad in all red attire, they chanted war songs to decry the abandonment of the roads by the successive governments, thus calling on authorities to fix the road.

The protestors who were expected to present a petition to the Regional Coordinating Council could not do so because the police arrested some of their members describing the protest as illegal.