Be thankful OccupyBoG protesters were not violent – Franklin Cudjoe tells BoG Governor

The founder and president of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has hit back at the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Ernest Addison for his response to the #OccupyBoGProtestors, indicating that he should be thankful the protesters were not violent.

Dr Addison dismissed calls by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Minority caucus in Parliament for him to resign.

He said in an interview with an international business website, Central Banking, that he is not stepping down, describing the protest by the NDC as “completely unnecessary.”

“The Minority in parliament have many channels to channel their grievances in civilised societies, not through demonstrations in the streets as hooligans,” Dr Addison added in reference to the #OccupyBoGProtest.

The protest was held on Tuesday to denounce the economic crisis as a result of what the protesters termed poor monetary policy by the BoG.

Mr Cudjoe told Selorm Adonoo in an interview on The Big Issue on Citi TV on Saturday that “I was a bit surprised when those comments were attributed to the Central Bank Governor. I thought it was one of those fake postings but it turns out that it is actually true because he has not even recounted them and he has not even apologised for them.

“Indeed he wasn’t just insulting the demonstrators at the venue that day but he was virtually insulting almost everybody who has actually demonstrated before or will be demonstrating in the future.”

“In fact, I think what he should be thankful for is that the demonstrators were not violent…I kept saying that those people who are preventing people from demonstrating should rather be grateful that those demonstrating did not do so with sticks and guns.”

Mr Cudjoes explained that was because Ghanaians were legitimately angry about the actions of the government.

“I keep saying that about 70% of the current happenings right now are solely attributed to the government’s mismanagement of the economy. That is a settled argument,” he stated.