The scheduled demonstration of the Coalition of Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) Trainees has been called off for a second time after members received false information that it had been postponed.
This was revealed by the Coalition’s president, Nana Barimah Asamoah who expressed disappointment in the turnout.
He noted that he expected about a thousand participants for the demonstration but as at 9:00am, two hours after the demonstration was scheduled to take off, only seven people had turned up and there were no police officers in sight.
According to Nana Barimah, some members angrily called him this morning asking why the demonstration was suspended without prior notice, a piece of information that came to him as a surprise.
“Trainees who were coming, they are bombarding me with calls that they’ve been reading communique out there that we’ve postponed the demonstration… we don’t know how people have been deployed bombarding the (WhatsApp) page with messages that the demonstration has been suspended,” he stated.
Nana Barimah added that he was asked by some top figures to call off the demonstration but refused to do so“I was panelled on this issue to call this demonstration off but I have to override all these for the sake of the passion to see it that every NABCO live comfortably on this scheme.”
The few who didn’t receive the fake communique that went round said they didn’t have money for transportation hence their failure to turn up for the protest.
Nana Barimah noted that attempts by executives of the Coalition to get sponsorship for transportation also yielded no result.
He also decried the attempted politicisation of the initiative.
“They are politicising NABCO initiative… trainees have been intimidated on grounds that if you avail your political party you’ll be victimised,” he said.
The intended purpose for the demonstration was to put pressure on the government to pay all allowances due trainees that are in arrears.
The decision to embark on a demonstration is driven by resentments trainees have harboured since subscribing unto the initiative.
The Coalition in a statement released earlier noted that “Management inefficiencies, lack of fairness, acceptable standard of recognition to the technocrats, enthusiasm and vitality in addressing trainees’ concerns is among the issues that form basis for the demonstration”.
The demonstration was originally scheduled for 10th May 2019 but was postponed to Friday, 31st May.
Source: Ghanaweb.com