Friday’s #FixTheCountry protesters went on a collision course with personnel of the Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service after they were refused entry into Parliament.
The protesters were seeking to enter Parliament to present their petition to leadership of the House.
But the police stopped the scores from entering the legislature by giving only a quota of 10.
This appeared not to have gone down well with organisers who wanted dozens to enter Parliament to present the petition.
“We are resolving with the followers that only 10 people will be allowed in to present the petition,” the President of the Unemployed Graduates Network, Selorm Kwame Dzramado, who joined the protest, told TV3‘s Joseph Armstrong Gold-Alorgbey.
He described the exercise as having been successful “because the message we are carrying out to Parliament today, the leadership of the House humbly came to this place to meet us”.
The demonstration is calling for a total rejection of the 2022 budget as presented by Minister of Finance Kenneth Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, November 17.
“We describe the taxes as ‘killer taxes’,” Mr Dzramado said. “If those taxes are approved by Parliament today, most Ghanaians will be extinct.”
Meanwhile, the Eighth Parliament is set to approve the budget on Friday, November 26 amid intense disagreement between the Majority and the Minority.
While the Majority thinks the budget will save the country from the ravages of the Covid-induced economic shocks, little wonder the naming it ‘Agyenkwa Budget’, the Minority thinks some of the policies are “draconian”.
“We want Parliament to reject the budget in its entirety. It should be sent back to the Executive capturing our revulsion and capturing our concerns,” the #FixTheCountry protester said.
