Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has expressed his disappointment in the government for revoking the permit of a rally dubbed ‘The Convention 2024’, organised by the New Africa Foundation.
The Convention, which assembled influential African thought leaders was scheduled to take place at 5 pm at the Black Stars Square venue on January 7, 2024.
However, a few moments before the event, the police surrounded the area, preventing audiences from entering the place with claims that it was an order from above.
Subsequently, on January 8, Deputy Director of the Diaspora Affairs Directorate, Dr Nadia Adongo Fynn said the decision to revoke the permission was prompted by the emergence of an “unforeseen” state event scheduled to take place at the Black Star Square venue.
According to Martin Kpebu, this was a breach of the right of organisers guaranteed under the constitution and certain people must be held to account.
“Everybody involved should be [held responsible] because this is the breach of the organiser’s Article 21 right. Article 21 of the constitution guarantees freedom of speech including freedom of assembly etc. So once the place is booked, you can’t cancel at that hour. It was just too late to cancel it.
“If anything the state event had to be rescheduled. I mean come on, so with this embarrassment, like Koku Anyidoho will say, ‘some heads must roll’,” he said.
He made this comment in an interview on the Midday News on JoyFM.
Touching on the allegations that the organisers of the event might have acquired the permit under Black Star Line instead of the New African Foundation, he said, “That is neither here nor there, listen, somebody, paid money. We change our names day in and day out.
“People change their names. These are red herrings they are hanging on to. Do you see why the explanation had to come a day after? I am sure is the public backlash that led them to this.”
The Legal practitioner explained that usually when people book venues for events, there is some form of due diligence. Therefore, if these people had been cleared to hold the event, the name change of organiser does not matter.
“One thing is very clear, the person who paid the money, the GH₵10,000 to them for which they approved is the person also involved in the Blackstar line or whatever name they are giving it. If it is that is it because I am sure they would have done their security check you know who was coming.
“If the security checks cleared all these people then the name does not matter. The name really does not matter. You see in law, we have what we call substance and then form. It is also in many other disciplines including accounting etc . So you look at the substance of the matter,” he said.
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