CHRAJ affirms its dedication to upholding people’s rights

Citizens have the right to protest and demonstrate to voice their concerns and unhappiness with government actions, according to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

“It is their right to physically and collectively assemble on a street, move about, and voice their displeasure with certain political concerns.

They were born with this privilege, which the Constitution protects.

It is preferable to hiding on social media and tweeting, it stated.

After the management and personnel went on a health walk, the Commissioner, Joseph Whittal, said in an interview that “Citizens should not be seen as troublemakers when they embark on protests.” CHRAJ

However, he claimed that these rights to demonstrate had a cap.

“There should be a balance between legitimate interests for national security and other considerations and our right to demonstrate and articulate what we feel about social policies and other matters,” he said. “When you go into the streets and the police decide that they are not comfortable with where you are going, there should be a balance of legitimate interests for national security and other considerations.”

This is significant because protesters and demonstrators will always exist.

I shall thus implore the Ghana Police Service and other organizations to recognize and understand these folks.

Such behavior sends a bad signal to the world community, and I don’t think that’s what we want to do in Ghana, he said. Ghana is a member of the global community. CHRAJ

Health walk

The walk served to reaffirm the commission’s dedication to promoting and protecting human rights as part of initiatives to raise awareness of its 30th-anniversary celebration and increase the commission’s visibility.

The walk, which was dubbed “CHRAJ at 30: Promoting and Protecting Human Rights and Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in Public Service Delivery,” gave the public a chance to recognize and respect the commission’s efforts.

In the Greater Accra Region, commission employees dressed in official T-shirts handed out flyers to the public as cheery songs played by a brass band and a Public Address (PA) system played in the background. CHRAJ

The participants held up signs that read, “Our services are free!” and “Ensuring effective and efficient public service delivery,” as well as, “Promoting and protecting fundamental human rights and freedoms in Ghana,” “Fostering transparency and accountability in Ghana,” “know your rights, report corruption now,” and “report injustice today.”

A  Just society

Mr. Whittal urged people to maintain human rights, openness, and accountability as crucial tenets of a fair and just society.

He claimed that the health walk served as a reminder to the populace that health is a fundamental human right and that governments must recognize this.

“Over the course of the commission’s thirty years of operation, it has received roughly 300,000 complaints about a variety of human rights, administrative justice, and corruption issues.

The panel wants to make sure that several important problems brought to the attention of the administration and Parliament are implemented and addressed.

In order to make public officers accountable to the citizens in the performance of their duties in a variety of areas, including asset declaration, conflict of interest, and giving sanctions, he continued, “These are some of the reasons why we are calling for the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers Bill.”

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