Kwame Boakye

Kumasi stands out as a vibrant city with history, tradition, and cultural richness, making it an unrivalled gem for tourists seeking an authentic Ghanaian experience.

This adventure starts with finding the right hotels in Kumasi to spend your nights and Oak Plaza Suites is one of the most luxurious places to turn your experiences into an unforgettable part of life.

Oak Plaza lies in the heart of Kumasi, Ghana, standing tall in The Ark, an iconic building that offers a luxurious retreat for travellers. Just about one kilometre away from the Kumasi City Mall, proximity to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kumasi's biggest sports stadium and just 15-minute drive away from the Kumasi Airport, the premium hotel offers an array of conform for its guests who seek to stay and explore Ghana's second largest city.

<h2>Oak Plaza Suites - Welcome to Oseikrom, luxury style</h2>

Oak Plaza Suites - Welcome to Oseikrom, luxury style

From the moment you step into Oak Plaza, the aura and warm reception from your hosts make you feel at home instantly. The hotel's architectural finesse blends seamlessly with the interior design complimented by traditional Ghanaian motifs, creating an ambience that validates Kumasi as a cultural hub.

<h2>Hotels in Kumasi: Oak Plaza Suites to suit your needs</h2>

The beauty of Oak Plaza lies in the versatility of its palatial suites.&nbsp;

From one-bedroom deluxe rooms, one-bedroom executive rooms, and two-bedrooms to presidential suites, the hotel inside the iconic The Ark building offers a wide range of options to its guests.

Hotels in Kumasi: Oak Plaza Suites to suit your needs

Each one of these rooms is a haven of refinement and comfort, meticulously designed to have a unique feel for every choice a guest makes. No two rooms are the same. Oak Plaza Suites offers a distinct feature in each room to make sure that no stay at the hotel looks like the previous one. The ambiance exudes an air of privacy, and exclusivity, where every element reflects the epitome of luxury.

The suites' plush furnishings in the living spaces make guests feel like kings and queens and the decor that stands the test of time pays homage to Ghanaian heritage while infusing international elements to cater for people all over the world. The furniture and paintings at Oak Plaza Suites are sights to behold.&nbsp;

<h2>Go out or stay in, the choice is yours</h2>

Beyond the lavish interiors, Oak Plaza Suites ensures an array of amenities that elevate the guest experience and make it convenient for all plans.

If you want to bask in the sun along the swimming pool, hit the gym for those muscles, burn calories or simply stay indoors with refreshing entertainment, the hotel is set up to not comprimise on any choice a guest is likely to make.

Oak Plaza Suites: Go out or stay in, the choice is yours

With rooms adorned with a kitchenette, this is your number one spot to do that cookout on a getaway trip or make sure your favourite recipe goes on tour with you.

Despite not having a restaurant yet, the hotel in Kumasi provides a menu that blends local with continental dishes and tastes to yearn for.

Room service is top-notch at Oak Plaza Suites. Stay in your room and get all you need by simply scanning a bar code or calling the front desk. The staff, trained to anticipate every need, cater to guests with warmth and professionalism that exceeds expectations. Luxury, privacy and comfort at your doorstep.

<h2>Oak Plaza Suites: What are the rates?</h2>

In all fairness, luxury comes at a price and rightly so. But also, prices are relative and Oak Plaza Suites offers an experience at a price that seeks to find the balance between maintaining a standard while not letting their guests break the bank.

Starting at just 200 USD, people looking for one of the most luxurious hotel experiences in the heart of Kumasi can get to stay at Oak Plaza Suites.

Having been set up in a developing country that has its challenges, Oak Plaza Suites researches to be innovative about its day-to-day activities for the overall good.

One of the key things you will notice about Oak Plaza Suites is their efforts in energy conservation.

Aside from the guests' refrigeratory, every electrical gadget goes off the moment the key card to the room leaves the room, saving energy on what would have potentially been a forgotten airconditioner or light being left on for hours while nobody occupies a hotel room.

Oak Plaza Suites is in Asokwa, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Kumasi is about 40 minutes away from Accra travelling by air and about 6 hours by land.

Oak Plaza Suites: Inside one of the most luxurious hotels in Kumasi

Hotels in Kumasi are often forgotten when it comes to luxurious accommodation away from home. Oak Plaza Suites offers that and more in Oseikrom, where culture meets modernity.

Emmanuel Ayamga

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In 2005, the Accra Milo Marathon would see one of its keenest climaxes ever. The final laps were all kinds of competitive and paradoxical: veteran versus rookie, legend against prodigy, master contra apprentice… Then-three-time winner David Zigah head-to-head with 18-year-old Godwin Adukpo.

The marathon would go down to the wire and a fairytale triumph would be birthed when the rookie beat the master to the finish line. But more than just an underdog story, it would also signal a paradigm shift on the local scene; the transfer of the torch from one torchbearer to another.

Adukpo had adored and idolised Zigah for many years. As a boy growing up in the village in the Volta Region, he wanted to be the next Zigah. So to be in the same race with his idol was a dream come true. “When the marathon started, I was only looking for Zigah,” Adupko recalls in an exclusive interview with Pulse.com.gh.&nbsp;

Thousands usually compete for the Accra Milo Marathon

And so having trailed Zigah for large spells, the youngster couldn’t believe his luck when he finally spotted his mentor with 15 kilometres left.

“When I finally saw him, I started following him. Wherever he went, I tagged along,” recounts Adukpo. “I followed him till Korle-Bu, where a random guy on a bicycle whispered to me that Zigah was tired and that that was my chance to overtake him.

“I watched Zigah’s face but nothing showed he was tired. I didn’t believe he was tiring. In my mind, he was invincible. But as we raced shoulder by shoulder, everybody we encountered on the way was signalling to me that Zigah was tired. I decided to heed them and make my move.

“I dashed forward in anticipation that he’d match my pace. But he didn’t. So I increased the pace. He still wasn’t closing in, so I left him behind and sped off. For the first time I felt I had it in my hands. And I went on to win the race.”

Adukpo became the youngest winner in the senior category of the Accra Milo Marathon, completing the 42.2km race with a time of 2:29.29. Zigah would ultimately finish third after being overtaken by Victor Ashiagbor, with just a minute separating the two.

Adukpo, now 36 and retired, was born in Dzita, a fishing community in the Volta Region of Ghana, where children tend to fish rather than go to school. Adukpo himself didn’t have the luxury of attending elementary school after losing his parents at a very young age.

This left him, and his twin sister, fending for themselves as they lived with their grandmother, who equally had many mouths to feed since she was taking care of other children. As a way of making some extra money, Adukpo divided his time between trawling on the sea and running errands for elders in the community.

Godwin Adukpo when he won the Accra Milo Marathon

The reward for those errands? On good days, he would receive money and other gifts from his benefactors. On not-so-good days, however, leftovers were all he could lay hands on.

“Growing up was tough because we lost our parents at a young age,” said Adukpo. “When people send me to buy something for them, I run as fast as I can. The trick was that whenever I returned early, the person was likely to ask me to keep the change.

“Or if it was food, they’d eat and leave some for me to eat. So I tried to impress whenever anyone sent me on an errand by going fast and returning early. That's how we were surviving.”

Despite the lush sceneries in Dzita, the town is often in the news for being ravaged by tidal waves, which leaves many residents displaced and properties destroyed yearly. For kids, this sort of repeated turbulence denies them any form of stability in their growth.

As if having to contend with all that, as well as missing the presence and tenderness of his parents, wasn’t difficult enough, Adukpo would also be separated from his twin sister, who needed to leave the village to preserve her own future. “My twin sister had to be sent to Akosombo [in Eastern Ghana] because over here [in Dzita], when you grow up to a certain level and you are not going to school, they force you to do certain jobs.”

Running errands became a coping mechanism for young Adukpo and, in doing that, he would develop a passion for sprinting. For free spirits, though, passion can be a euphemism for boundless energy and Adukpo began feeling the power that comes with focusing on what excites him. The more he ran, the more he got better at it and built up his stamina, albeit in oblivion.

“I was more of an errand boy, and they [used to] send us a lot at the beach,” says Adukpo, a memory that makes him grin.

Even with no proper training, running around made Adukpo peppy and vibrant. He was confident too, and his self-belief would lead him to challenge some students of Dzita LA Basic School who were having an outdoor PE lesson to a race during one of his random errands.

An audacious Adukpo approached the PE teacher and told him he could do better than his students. “He was initially reluctant because I wasn’t a student of the school, but I was daring and I told him if he gave me a chance, I’d disgrace the other students in a running contest,” he said.

Luckily for Adukpo, his bluff caught the attention of the PE teacher, who invited him to join the next session, where he competed in the 100m, 200m, 800m and 1500m and excelled in all the races.

“When I went, I was instructed to run the 100m race, but I wanted to do the long distance,” Adukpo said. “At my first attempt, I came second in the 100m, then I was asked to do 200m. Then they allowed me to join the 800m race – the pitch was quite small so we went round the park four times – and I finished first. I competed in the 1500m next and I won that one too. That was how I proved myself.”

That was how Adukpo officially got introduced to athletics and, in the years that followed, he would carve a career that saw him become one of the best marathoners from Ghana.

For over a decade, he dominated the local scene, going on to win the Accra Milo Marathon four times – just one shy of his mentor Zigah, who holds the record as the competition's greatest athlete with five winners’ medals – but it all started with bluffing his way into a race.

It is, however, one thing to run errands at a fast pace and entirely another to compete in races. Adukpo’s success story on the PE grounds, however, piqued his interest and he started nursing the idea of becoming a professional athlete.

With every race he won, his name began spreading like wildfire in the community. He had identified his niche as a long-distance runner and he was excelling there. Such was Adukpo’s level of competitiveness that the teachers begged his grandmother to allow him to spend more time with the school’s athletics team, rather than on the fishing boats.

She would reluctantly agree to their plea and Adukpo quickly went from merely training with students of the school to representing the school in competitions despite officially not being a registered student. He was winning too.

“I represented them in several inter-school competitions, winning the 800m and 1500m contests,” he recalls. “I proceeded to inter-area competitions and won there too. Then I represented them in inter-zonals and even at the district level.

“When I returned, they asked me to officially join the school. So I started schooling, but I had to divide my time between class and fishing, since I needed to make some money for my survival.”

Long before Adukpo’s keen rivalry with Zigah was birthed at the national level, his first taste of a marathon adversary came while he was still fledgling in the village of Dzita.

At the time, his longest distance was 1500m but he had outgrown his competitors, having won the inter-regional competition in Kumasi while setting a new record in the process. Even though he was just 15, his talent excited many in his community and it wasn’t long before he was encouraged to take on his older colleagues in the 5000m and cross country.

But there was already a champion in the aforementioned categories and his name was Joseph Yandall. Yandall was already a household name in the Volta Region, where Adukpo hails from, and was clearly the better athlete at the time. He had also won the U-15 category of the Milo Marathon in 2002 and was the region’s brightest prospect due to his impeccable record in competitions.

The rivalry was on, and not many were backing Adukpo to handle the step-up well, let alone usurp the region’s marathon champion. But that is exactly what he would do.

“When I started running the 5000m and cross country, I usually finished second to Joseph Yandall until 2004 when I was finally able to overtake him and I also dominated from there,” effuses Adukpo, who can’t hide his pride as he speaks.

One regret Adukpo has from his amateur years was that, unlike Yandall, he never got the opportunity to compete in the U-15 category of the Milo Marathon. Despite being an adolescent boy, the years of working at sea had taken its toll. He looked older than his actual age, which always led to his disqualification from the junior marathon, which was reserved for adolescent kids and early teenagers.

“Some of us, they would just look at our faces and say you are old, so they disqualify us. They say under 15, but they don't ask us of our age,” Adukpo recounts. “They were doing that to me continuously, so in 2003 when they disqualified me, I said I wasn’t going to accept it. So I joined the senior Milo Marathon. In my first attempt, I finished 30th. And I realised the distance was longer than in the junior contest. In the junior contest, we trained for just 15 km, but the senior contest was almost 42km.

“I stopped on the way several times before I got to the finishing point but, even by finishing 30th, I was given a lot of products from the sponsors so that motivated me. After that, I started training hard towards the next year’s race.”

Those disqualifications from the junior marathon annoyed Adukpo and, although he made the decision to start competing in the senior category, he wasn’t quite ready yet. Finishing 30th, though, was a sign that he could do it if only he trained harder.

So that was exactly what Adukpo did. Buoyed by an innate will and determination to win the Accra Milo Marathon, he moved to Akatsi to train day and night on the mountains.

“Sometimes, I ran from my village to Akatsi and back,” he said. “Other times, I can run from my village to Aflao and come back. These distances weren’t easy but I was doing that just to build myself towards the following year’s marathon. So the following year, in 2004, I finished eighth.”

Godwin Adukpo won the Accra Milo Marathon four times

Adukpo continued to train hard and his hard work would eventually pay off when he beat Zigah to win the Accra Milo Marathon for the first time in 2005. That year’s race was the archetypal David vs. Goliath contest.

Here was Zigah, then winner of the marathon three consecutive times in 2001, 2002 and 2003, against Adukpo, whose highest finish in the national competition was then eighth. In fact, when the duo first met two years prior, Adukpo was left star-struck after sighting his mentor.

“I was hearing of David Zigah, but 2003 was when I really saw him,” he narrates. “I was actually tailing him during the race but at a point he left us and went ahead to finish first. Later, I looked for him and began asking for tips on how to win the marathon.

“Initially, he wasn’t really forthcoming but I kept disturbing him. Anywhere I saw him, I’d go closer to him and ask ‘How do you do it? I want to be like you’. So he told me his secret was training hard.

“I started varying my training. I started running on hills, running at the beach. I was desperate to win the marathon. Fortunately, I completed Junior High School that year, so I decided to dedicate all my time towards training. I was not doing anything else. I was just training every day. At a point I was sleeping at the Ho Sports Stadium alone.”

For a boy who had to overcome adversity all through his childhood, fate would have it that he went through one more hurdle en route to becoming a national champion. Giving his all in training made him so confident ahead of the 2005 marathon but even his trainers didn’t foresee him getting a podium finish. “They all doubted me,” Adukpo smiles as he harks back to those moments.

But the real distress came in the hours leading to the marathon. When Adukpo made the journey from the Volta Region to Accra to compete, he knew nobody in the capital and so had nowhere to sleep. He arrived a day before the race, late in the night, and went around begging people in a bid to find a place to rest. He didn’t find any.

Refuge eventually came, albeit belatedly, and he would spend that night in the unlikeliest of places – on a shaky bench with his eyes open until sunrise.

“No one was ready to help so I made my way to the starting point of the race and I met a guy who was looking after the place. I engaged him in a chat and told him I was going to win the race. I was doing that to convince him to allow me to sleep at the starting point, although that wasn’t allowed,” Adukpo recounts.

“So I waited and when everyone left, I put some benches together and laid on them. I couldn’t sleep that night until morning.”

He couldn’t sleep but once he was at the starting point, Adukpo knew there was no turning back. He applied everything he learned during his training; he made a fast start to the marathon, slowed down midway to catch his breath and when he finally caught up with Zigah, he never let him out of his sight.

Beating Zigah to win the Milo Marathon in 2005 was the moment Adukpo etched his name in the hearts and minds of Ghanaian marathon lovers. And although he went on to win the marathon three more times, his first triumph was what gave him street credibility.

The reception back home and across the country was special too. “I was received like a king,” says Adukpo, who is almost blushing as he relives that victorious moment. “Aside from the prizes and cash after winning the Marathon in 2005, a lot of people also gave me money. Several big people, chiefs hosted me in their palaces, and I visited the Regional Minister too.”

Godwin Adukpo used to train on the mountains

With that came along a scholarship to attend Anlo Secondary School, where Adukpo continued to compete in several marathons. He’d, however, have to wait for three years to become a national marathon champion for the second time.

He had near misses in 2006 and 2007, but returned strongly to win the marathon three consecutive times in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He may have matched Zigah’s three-peat, but rues his failure to beat his rival’s five overall titles.

Part of that was due to an injury he suffered on the eve of the marathon in 2009. Adukpo was travelling when he got involved in a car accident. His knee was rocked from the crash but, as defending champion of the Milo Marathon, he decided to compete despite the injury.

He went on to win the race that year but aggravated the injury and it would prove costly in the following years and would ultimately force him into an early retirement in 2017.

“I wanted to break Zigah’s record of five wins in the marathon. Unfortunately, I had a car accident in 2009 which affected my knee. I was advised not to participate in the marathon that year but I still did and I won. Nobody knew I was injured,” he said.

“When I went back to the hospital, the doctor was afraid that I could lose my leg, but he treated me and I returned to win the marathon again in 2010. But after that the pain returned. Till now, whenever I run long distances, my knee locks at some point.”

In his prime, Adukpo was a beast but the injuries just wouldn’t allow him to reach his full potential. He was also a bit stubborn and overconfident, and his ego sometimes got in the way. And for that, his career overall remains in the ‘what could’ve been’ category.

Godwin Adukpo has been training young athletes since retiring

For instance, even when he was outgrowing his comfort zone, he refused to work under professional coaches. He believed in himself so much – and, perhaps, he was too loyal to those he began with – that he felt his childhood trainers and PE teachers were best placed to take him to the zenith of his career. How wrong he was.

“I was not under any professional coach before I won the marathon and a lot of people were saying I would do better if I worked with a coach,” Adukpo owns up. “At a point, I was asked to join Zigah’s coach but I rejected it. I was still relying on my secondary school PE teachers and those who brought me up for training.”

Even at that, he represented Ghana in several international marathons in Mali, Malaysia and the Netherlands, and realised his childhood dream of competing against marathon legends like Haile Gebrselassie, Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele in his prime.

Athletics in Ghana has seen very little development in recent years. And while the country has produced some promising athletes in 100m, 200m and 800m, long-distance runners remain in short supply.

The Accra Milo Marathon, which used to be the most prestigious marathon in the country and served as a warm-up for athletes preparing for international contests, has been halted since 2016.

Even worse, facilities where athletes can train are in short supply, especially in the capital, after the tartan tracks at the Accra Sports Stadium were removed as part of renovation works towards Ghana hosting the 2008 AFCON. Adukpo believes that singular act killed athletics in the country.

“Athletics in Ghana died in 2008 when the country was preparing to host the AFCON,” he articulates. “The Accra Sports Stadium used to have tartan tracks but they were removed while renovating the stadium for the tournament. That rendered Accra trackless because El-Wak is for the military and it’s not standard. So athletes in Accra have to struggle to get a place to train. It’s why athletes in Kumasi started doing better than those in Accra because Kumasi has the tartan tracks.

“The government has to take a look at the management of the sport if we want to produce better long-distance runners. There should be a plan on how to bring up young runners. As we speak, in the whole year, they have just two competitions and that is not good enough.”

These days Adukpo is into public service. He may not have risen to international acclaim, but he ruled the streets in his prime and his name is the stuff of legend among locals who keenly follow athletics. He remains an icon to a whole generation of Ghanaians; those who were born in the mid-to-late-1990s and early 2000s. For they saw him come from nothing and do it all by upsetting the odds and endearing himself to them.

In his own rendition of a victory dance, Adukpo had his own famous victory sidesteps. Each time he won the marathon, he would run a few more metres beyond the finish line – a message to his rivals that he still had more fuel in his tank. Anytime he did it, a crescendo of applause greeted him as he took in all the glory.

After retiring, he became a Customs Officer, where he currently holds the rank of Revenue Assistant Grade 1, and is in charge of training new recruits.

But athletics remains in his blood. When he has time on his hands, he works as an athletics coach and physical training instructor; nurturing persons who want to carve careers in the sport and follow in his footsteps.

Adukpo’s advice to young ones who want to dominate the athletics scene, though, is simple: “If you want to succeed in whatever field, be it long distance or short distance, you have to be ready to sacrifice a lot. You don’t wait to hear about a competition before you start training. A good athlete trains all the time.”

Godwin Adukpo won the Accra Milo Marathon four times and ruled the streets in his prime, but it was through being an errand boy in his village that he discovered his potential in athletics.

Godwin Adukpo: The errand boy who became a marathon icon

On Thursday, September 21, 2023, a Ghanaian mother had to rush to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters when news got to her that her son had been arrested. Marking a significant day in Ghana’s history as a holiday for Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, this mother should’ve probably been taking a break to rest. But she was restless.

The Ghana Police Service had put on their usual boorish act; an act that many people have experienced at the various stations across the country but can’t make sense of. An ‘order from above’ said this woman could not see her son. Neither was she allowed to follow due process in an attempt to bail her son. The events leading to the trauma this mother had to go through question the Ghana Police Service’s understanding of what their task is in dealing with civilians.

This young man woke up in an enthusiastic mood to play some basketball on a holiday, a sport loved by many young Ghanaians. On his way back, he was arrested by the police. His crime? Wearing a black shirt in a vicinity where peaceful demonstrators were being targeted by the people who should be protecting them.

Around the same time, a young Ghanaian lawyer was being treated like a criminal for his intervention to try and protect a journalist. Amidst all the chaos around a host of arrests that had happened, a journalist decided to document some of the happenings between the police and civilians at one of the police stations where arrested protestors were kept. About 5 police officers rushed to her in a bid to stop her from recording what was going on. When the lawyer, known as Rockson stepped in to help with what the journalist would later reveal was a physical assault by male policemen, he was arrested with charges around the lines of ‘preventing an arrest’. The interesting part is, the journalist was not arrested.

In the weeks leading to September 21, 2023, organisers of #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration had informed the Ghana Police Service of their intent to have a peaceful demonstration, as the law requires. The police had engaged the organisers throughout the process with both parties having aligned on the 3-day demonstration from September 21 to September 23, 2023.

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">JUST IN: Police file application to prohibit tomorrow&#39;s intended demonstration<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PulseNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PulseNews</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OccupyJulorbiHouse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OccupyJulorbiHouse</a> <a href="https://t.co/dhm0TV5SAf">pic.twitter.com/dhm0TV5SAf</a>&mdash; Pulse Ghana (@PulseGhana) <a href="https://twitter.com/PulseGhana/status/1704506272517705947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Less than 24 hours before the start of the demonstration, the Ghana Police Service released a statement with the heading ‘Police file application to prohibit planned demonstration by Democracy Hub Group’. The release claimed the police had ‘served the organisers of a group identifying itself as Democracy Hub in connection with planned demonstration within the vicinity of Jubilee House from Thursday, 21st to Saturday, 23rd September 2023.’

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">&quot;We wish to put it on record that the Ghana Police Service has not served us with any application&quot; - Democracy Hub responds to Police statement.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PulseNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PulseNews</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/occupyJulorbiHouse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#occupyJulorbiHouse</a> <a href="https://t.co/jbq5evGuSG">pic.twitter.com/jbq5evGuSG</a>&mdash; Pulse Ghana (@PulseGhana) <a href="https://twitter.com/PulseGhana/status/1704532255941521641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Responding to the police, Democracy Hub wrote in a press release saying ‘We wish to put on record that the Ghana Police Service has not served us with any application and we are unaware of what exactly the police application is about’.&nbsp;

Ghana Police Service released another statement refuting the claim of non-service of court process by the conveners of Democracy Hub, saying they were served through their lawyers Atuguba &amp; Associates. That was where the exchange of documents ended. The next day would go on as planned - or maybe not.

In the early hours of Thursday, September 21, 2023, Ghanaians started gathering around the 37 Lorry Station as planned for the peaceful demonstration. Commuters who ply the road started sharing videos of heavy police presence along the stretch. From full gears to police on horses, the scenes and outlook for these policemen and policewomen were not usual for many Ghanaians.

By 9 am, a video had started going viral even before the protest had started. Police had arrested a group of young people, and put them in a bus headed towards the Accra Regional Police Headquarters.&nbsp;

“This is not a democracy,” Oliver Barker-Vormawor said as the first group of people who had been arrested were being transported to the police headquarters. He then called on all available lawyers to help with representation for the people who had been arrested.

The next hours saw more breaking stories of people getting arrested than the initially planned peaceful protest. One person granting a calm interview to a Ghanaian TV station was arrested on camera while eyewitnesses saw people change their outfits to avoid being arrested without a chance to explain. This was how the young man whose mother was at the police station found himself in a cell on a memorial day for Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday. Just by wearing black.

Afia Blue Tafari is a known lawyer on the Ghanaian timeline for social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Her storytelling of her encounter with a police officer for a road traffic offence case was followed by many, giving a sense of a Ghanaian barrister who wants better for the West African country and representation for the voiceless.&nbsp;

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">If you haven’t spoken to a law yet, send me a dm of your name and the station you have been sent to.&mdash; Afia Blue (@af_ia_blue) <a href="https://twitter.com/af_ia_blue/status/1704785891145769288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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On Thursday, when news of arrests started trickling in from all corners of Ghana’s capital, Accra, that was Afia’s mood - helping the best way she could for all who needed representation and without a fee.

“If you haven’t spoken to law yet, send me a dm of your name and the station you have been sent to,” Afia wrote on X, a refreshing post on a timeline that was filled with uncertain fate for the arrested individuals.&nbsp;

As this statement went viral at the time, the police started distributing demonstrators in their custody in what seemed to be a strategy to frustrate lawyers who were willing to help more than a lack of space to keep people in custody. Lawyers were being asked to go back to the headquarters where the arrests were booked when they showed up for their clients at the venue of their cells.

In an update from Lawyer Prince Ganaku on X Spaces that had run for hours throughout the demonstration, the barrister gave the first sense of the situation of how dealings with the Ghana Police Service were ongoing, calling on other lawyers to help as the arrests were getting more and more.

“The protestors have been arrested in batches. I came here when I was prompted by the arrested protestors,” Lawyer Prince Ganaku said on the X Spaces.&nbsp;

“When I got here, I spoke with the charge office and I was told some of them are in the cells of the charge office. Some of them are in there, some of them are in interrogation, some of them are in the barracks.

“The lawyers have been told we won’t be allowed to see those who were arrested earlier, the first batch of people because they have been distributed across the cells,” he said.

Lawyer Afia Blue Tafari collaborated Prince’s experience writing on X:

“They’re not letting lawyers see anyone. They’re transferring protesters to other stations. When you go there they tell you since they processed them at HQ, you have to bail them at HQ. Mafia tactics. Make noise.”

Prince added he and another lawyer were trying to get a list of all the people who had been arrested to have a chance of representing them. He then made a call to all lawyers who had some time on their hands to pass by and help.

Within moments of this news breaking, the official names of people in custody had been gathered with their respective locations. As most people on the timeline were known by their X handle, others had to help these lawyers with their official names.

That, however, did not mean the task was made any easier.&nbsp;

One of the key people who initiated the X Spaces Lawyer Prince had earlier given the update on, was Ghanaian journalist Bridget Otoo trying to help the mother whose son had been arrested on his return from basketball training.

In an attempt to help her see her son, the situation quickly escalated as the young gentleman called Gheorghe (@Boss_gheorghe) who was with Bridget Otoo was picked by the police.

“A woman spoke to me about her son who was playing basketball around Christ The King, the basketball area there,” Bridget narrates the story of how Gheorghe was picked up.

“The boy was supposed to play basketball and the police in their swoop as they do with other crime event just carried him along. She’s been here trying to hear from her son. And she spoke to me. I get to the gate and I tell the policeman to go in there and he tells me there is nobody there. I said ‘but you have just taken people in there’. He said he will not allow us in.

“While I was waiting the police charged at us. We didn’t provoke them, nothing. We were just standing. He opened the gate and charged at us picking as many people as they could grab. I want to believe because I am a woman that is why they didn’t grab me. I have the phone of a gentleman who is still inside,” she added.

That gentleman was Gheorghe, whose pickup was captured live on the ongoing X Spaces he had helped initiate with over 1,500 listeners on at the time.

One of Bridget’s fears during her narration turned out to be exactly what her nightmares had been. “At the time Vanessa was in there and I was scared for Vanessa. Because we had sent her out and the police had guns, they were being hostile to anybody who is in there,” Bridget said.

Ghanaian journalist with X handle @OleleSalvador who had been giving minute-by-minute updates on the #OccupyJulorbiHouse wrote on the situation with a video attached:

“One of my colleague journalists who was a victim of the ‘Rambo’ style apprehension and manhandling action by the @GhPoliceService narrates her harrowing experience.&nbsp;

“Her crime? Recording the mini-chaos between the police and some protestors in the yard, even as a journalist.&nbsp;

“Her phone has been seized.”

Vanessa was the journalist Lawyer Richmond Rockson tried to help following police officers rushing at her over her decision to record happenings - leading to the lawyer’s arrest.

“My ‘crime’ was my intervention when several officers of @GhPoliceService manhandled this journalist. I was physically assaulted by some officers, and detained for hours. Thanks to my learned friends, I have been released. Be assured I’ll take steps to remedy this recklessness.”

Vanessa was not the only journalist who had an encounter with the police on the day. BBC journalist Thomas Naadi was ‘detained’ by the Ghana police and later released according to information from his colleague Akwasi Sarpong.

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My ‘crime’ was my intervention when several officers of <a href="https://twitter.com/GhPoliceService?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GhPoliceService</a> manhandled this journalist. I was physically assaulted by some officers, detained for hours. Thanks to my learned friends, I have been released. Be assured I’ll take steps to remedy this recklessness. <a href="https://t.co/Sq9i5lGs1a">https://t.co/Sq9i5lGs1a</a>&mdash; Richmond Rockson (@MrRockson) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrRockson/status/1704869980167098644?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The Ghana Police Service in an official statement addressing this particular issue claimed the report was ‘erroneous’ and the ‘police would like to put on record that the report is false and should be disregarded’.

They further explained that the journalist was picked among a group of people but identified himself during the screening process and was ‘immediately allowed to go’.

The Ghana Journalists Association refuted the claims by the police, highlighting other journalists who were maltreated during the demonstration.

As all these were ongoing, lawyers on the day had doubled their efforts to try and get protestors in police custody out before the close of day. They had received information on the arrested being arraigned in court the next day and having to spend the night in cells with no bail.

In one of her many updates on the day, Lawyer Afia Blue Tafari wrote:

“Unfortunately it’s unlikely that anyone will be granted bail today. The police say they’ll arraign them tomorrow in court for any bail application to be made. Sad.”

While the lawyers, demonstrators, friends and family of the arrested were making sacrifices on various grounds, the topic was gaining momentum online with a lot of backlash aimed towards the Ghana Police Service and anyone who had a voice in Ghana. Among these groups of people were celebrities in Ghana. And of course, the media.

During the #EndSARS protest in Nigeria, a lot of sympathy was triggered from their West African counterparts. From government officials, musicians, actors and actresses, top media personalities to the average Ghanaian, messages of support kept trickling in towards Nigeria. People with influence in Nigeria also got involved.

The quest online as lawyers tried to get bail for arrested participants of the #OccupyJulorbiHouse demo was to get solidarity from all the voices that mattered in Ghana. That meant some extreme online measures of calling people out for their actions and inactions, resulting in messages from celebrities that got criticised, deleting of posts by top personalities who were not aware of the ongoing situation and calling on all the people who could help amplify the cries of the Ghanaian youth.

Posts started coming in soon with the criticism online exchanges usually have.

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/QlCdTTQ6lp">pic.twitter.com/QlCdTTQ6lp</a>&mdash; John Agyekum Kufuor (@JohnAKufuor) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnAKufuor/status/1704887033271898343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Why are the police assaulting peaceful protest protestors…?? Is this Ghana..? Wow!&mdash; EFYA (@EFYA_Nokturnal) <a href="https://twitter.com/EFYA_Nokturnal/status/1704915697917214800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Left the UN Conference in New York City right after the president of Ghana’s presentation. I’ve never heard a figure like what he asked for from the UN. So if they carry all these money give dem, where them dey take pass? Hand on my heart I dey tell you there’s no evidence for…&mdash; IRON BOY (@blacksherif_) <a href="https://twitter.com/blacksherif_/status/1704917512599580945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">You can only be scared of a peaceful protest when you know you deserve otherwise…&mdash; Sarkodie (@sarkodie) <a href="https://twitter.com/sarkodie/status/1704917738815393853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Democracy includes freedom of association, freedom of religion and speech, citizenship, assembly, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty + minority rights. 💔&mdash; D-Black (@DBLACKGH) <a href="https://twitter.com/DBLACKGH/status/1704906223840289198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">it’s sad to see what’s happening to my brothers and sisters in Ghana. freedom shouldn’t be fought for, it must be free for all. all we’re asking for is good governance and economic freedom 💔&mdash; Song Bird (@Gyakie_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gyakie_/status/1704926317664227663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Oh so this is what is happening ? I have been preaching a wake up call since I came back to Ghana. It is sad to see this happen especially on a day like this. I am a victim to bad roads and had it not been God the story would have been different. LET THE PEOPLE GO <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ghanawakeup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ghanawakeup</a>…&mdash; Enigma EP (@wendyshaygh) <a href="https://twitter.com/wendyshaygh/status/1704928979814158759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Imagine crying about hardship and being made to suffer for peacefully crying out. Ridiculous!!! Where’s the democracy? We deserve better !!!&mdash; King Promise (@IamKingPromise) <a href="https://twitter.com/IamKingPromise/status/1704939148673454503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Whether you support the arrested protesters or not you cannot deny that they have the constitutional right to assemble and freely express their grievances. Dissent after all is the hallmark of every democracy. Our right to enjoy the freedoms our constitution has bestowed on us…&mdash; 1GAD (@stonebwoy) <a href="https://twitter.com/stonebwoy/status/1704941328390332489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Citizens should be able to demonstrate peacefully and express their views without fear of reprisal or violence.we are raising awareness about issues, voicing our concerns, and advocate for change and this is what we get ? HMMMM GHANA 💔&mdash; Fella Precious Makafui (@fellamakafui_) <a href="https://twitter.com/fellamakafui_/status/1704941128447864975?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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In the closing hours of the day, a notice that calmed nerves was put out by the lawyers who had been heroines and heroes of the day. The police had agreed to grant bail to all the arrested. The good news was they needed 10 sureties who could then stand in for all arrested on the day due to their involvement in the #OccupyJulorbiHouse demonstration.

Lawyer Afia Blue Tafari gave the update on X, writing:

“Regional command just granted bail. They need 10 people as sureties. If you are around please avail yourself @OleleSalvador nb.

“Adults, preferably closely related, and it will help if they are property owners, professionals or civil servants,” she added.

A sense of hope for the first time on the day resonated across X timeline, where most of the conversations on the day had happened. Hope not in the system, but in the young lawyers who yearned to push through the day for the freedom of those arrested.

Results started coming in in batches as the arrests had been. People in the different police stations were being released. A sense of relief could be seen in the updates from the many lawyers who had put in their best on the day to make things happen. Some of them could now tap into their sense of humour.

“They took all the stubborn boys to Shukura. Their boss is @thebodjona,” Lawyer Afia could finally share a joke she had planned all afternoon since seeing the list in a humour post.

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Final Lawyer Prince Ganaku update for today: He sey vote of thanks Wey he dey beg for ein area boy, Obidi 🤣🤣. Also this is Nii Boy <a href="https://twitter.com/niiBoiGh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@niiboigh</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OccupyJulorbi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OccupyJulorbi</a> <a href="https://t.co/aA0dujG3OL">https://t.co/aA0dujG3OL</a> <a href="https://t.co/rYU0dJNUTd">pic.twitter.com/rYU0dJNUTd</a>&mdash; rondo. (@Koffy_9) <a href="https://twitter.com/Koffy_9/status/1704996793090503048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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By 8:30pm, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, one of the first batch of people to be arrested had been the last to be released. The timeline was filled with some accounts of their experiences with the Ghana Police Service and a toned-down version of earlier requests. Citizens could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that all the arrested persons could finally go home.

In what looked like a peaceful approach by the Ghanaian youth to make their voices heard around the hardships and high cost of living in the West African country, the Ghana Police Service said no based on an ‘order from above’ and went ahead to arrest young Ghanaians who only wanted to exercise their human rights, in accordance with Ghana’s constitution.

#OccupyJulorbiHouse: Ghanaian police mar peaceful protest with unlawful arrests

A peaceful demonstration by Ghanaian youth on Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day was marred by what most legal professionals deem as unlawful arrests by the Ghana police.

Young Ghanaians embarked on a peaceful protest for a better life; The police said no!

For the average Ghanaian, this was somehow the first time they had heard haircut in the context it was being used. Getting a haircut was usual for many. Taking a haircut in financial terms was an alien vocabulary. For most of Twitter, the haircut conversation looked like fun and games. However, when the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stepped in to address the situation in October 2022, citizens knew it could only get worse.

Financial haircut can be described as the percentage difference between an asset's market value and the value ascribed to that asset for purposes of calculating regulatory capital or loan collateral. There is a difference between these values because market prices change over time, and the lender factors this fluctuation into their valuation and analysis for risk mitigation.

In simple terms, the haircut conversations in Ghana meant people who had some investments in the West African country could lose money. Although investments come with risks, the looming possibility of this risk, most Ghanaians felt, had been triggered by the insensitive nature and mismanagement of the economy by the government.

On Sunday, October 30, 2022, Ghana’s president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo addressed the nation in a format that had been synonymous to ‘Fellow Ghanaians’ during the Covid era. His message was simple: no individual or institutional investor was going to lose money or part of their investment in relation to the country’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial support.

After confirming that talks with the IMF were in advanced stages, President Akufo-Addo added: “No individual or institutional investor will lose their money as a result of our ongoing IMF negotiations. There will be no haircuts.”

The president went ahead to brand the conversations around a possible haircut as ‘false rumours’. By November 29, 2022, 30 days after the president’s assurance of no haircut in the financial sector, the situation had a different twist. Deputy Finance Minister of Ghana, John Kumah announced that the government was considering a 30% haircut on foreign bonds. He later confirmed to Reuters that the considerations were ‘not conclusive’ at the stage. Just a proposal.

Within a week, Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced a domestic debt exchange programme. This announcement eventually meant a haircut plus complications of different financial realizations and education on government bonds, maturity dates, amortized value and market-to-market value - topics the average Ghanaian investor would rather leave to their investment advisors.

<h2>Investment chaos in a poor economy</h2>

While all the talks around IMF and a hair were going on, investment banks in Ghana were already updating their customers per new directives from their regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Two of Ghana’s biggest investment firms Stanbic Investment Management Services and Ecobank EDC notified their customers of the economic situation and the impact on their investment via emails and market update notifications.

Although this was a directive from the regulator, one other investment firm, Databank Financial Services took most of the backlash when customers started seeing a difference in their total amortized value and market-to-market value due the financial institution’s link to Ghana’s Minister of Finance as a co-founder (although he is currently not involved in the day to day running of the business).

Ghana was already struggling to convince its youth to invest amidst a high unemployment rate and low financial literacy rate. The Domestic Debt Exchange Programme made it worse.

Kwame Boakye

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