Nursing mothers can’t buy pampers, children are malnourished - Naa Koryoo Okunor cries

According to Phillis Naa Koryoo Okunor, prices of diapers, just like every other commodity, have skyrocketed while income levels remain low and non-existent in some cases, and nursing mothers cannot afford to buy them.

She said this among other things while speaking at a demonstration organized by the minority Members of Parliament on Tuesday, October 3 to demand the resignation of the governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison and his deputies.

Naa Koryoo Okunor went further to lament how many families have been impoverished due to the economic mismanagement by the incumbent government, making it hard to feed their children. She asserted that children are now fed with only gari and salt, causing them to become malnourished.

She called on the government to formulate and implement policies geared towards making life worth living for Ghanaian families.

On Tuesday, October 3, thousands of Ghanaians poured onto the streets of Accra to join the minority Members of Parliament to demonstrate in demand for the resignation of the governor of the Bank of Ghana and his other deputies.

The demonstration, dubbed 'Occupy BOG Demo', followed the Bank of Ghana’s full-year 2022 audited financial statements released on July 28, 2023, which reported a total loss of GHS60 billion. Aside from the loss, the BOG is currently building a new head office which is estimated to cost $250 million amid other related controversies. Ghanaians and many analysts have kicked against the building and called for its suspension but the central bank wouldn’t budge.

The massive protest saw Ghanaians of diverse backgrounds and ages, including the elderly, wearing mostly red and black while holding placards bearing various inscriptions that depict the frustrations of the citizenry.

The protesters converged on the popular Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in the morning where they danced vigorously to various purposely-composed music before the organisers addressed the crowd, paving the way for the main protest.

The protesters marched under the scorching sun from Circle through Adabraka, Ridge roundabout, Trade Fair all the way to the John Evans Atta Mills Highway before proceeding to the CHRAJ and the Court complex where they met a heavy impenetrable police barricade with many police officers and their vans placed behind them.

The officers prevented the protesters from making their way to the premises of the Bank of Ghana - their main destination for the demonstration, sparking fierce anger among the protesters. Organisers of the demonstration later reached a compromise with the police to delegate some of them to meet with Dr. Ernest Addison and present a petition to him.

After close to an hour of jostling by media men to be allowed to do their job and by some protesters to follow their leaders, in an intensely packed crowd, the organisers returned without presenting the petition to the Bank of Ghana governor.

According to them, they were met by a man who claimed to be a watchman at the Bank of Ghana and told them that the governor was indisposed and was not at post at the time of their arrival.

Organisers, including the chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary, Fiifi Kwetey, Bernard Mornah of the PNC, Minority Leader, Dr Kaisel Ato Forson and North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa among many others addressed the protesters and indicated that another date would be scheduled for a follow-up demonstration to submit their petition to Dr Addison.

They warned that if they don’t hear of the resignation of the BOG governor and his deputies, who they say are incompetent, in the next few days, the next demonstration would be more aggressive and not even the police would be able to restrain the protesters.

Overall, the protest was peaceful, no skirmishes were recorded, and both the organisers of the protest and the police expressed gratitude to each other for their contributions to the success of the event.