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Two organizers of ‘Chale Wote’, the popular annual street art festival held in Jamestown in Accra, have been arrested by Accra Central Police.
One of the performers at this year’s event was also arrested.
The arrest took place on the evening of Saturday, August 21, 2021, outside Fort Ussher in Jamestown, as this year’s virtual event took place inside the fort.
Citinewsroom.com’s attempts to speak to the police have so far not been successful.
Nicholas Tetteh Wayo, one of the artists billed for the event who spoke to citinewsroom.com, said police officers who made the arrest outside Fort Usher caused damage to some machines and scattered items arranged by vendors who were preparing to cash in on the event.
He said the police did not explain the reason for the arrest of the three people held at the Accra police station.
According to him, the police appear to be acting on orders from the mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, who appears to have a personal score to settle with the organizers.
“I was inside Fort Ussher, then one of the guys rushed over to inform me that the police were arresting people outside, and by the time I got out they had already gone to the police station, so we were at the police doing whatever we could, but they still guard the three people.
“It seems they [The Police] receive orders from somewhere; of the mayor [Mohammed Adjei Sowah] I think. It’s something we do every year, and it brings a lot of benefits to the nation and especially to the people of Jamestown. People are making some money from it, but now it seems that they are preventing people from making money for no reason. The police made a few break-ins; some guys were doing shows, and the food vendors were trying to sell, and they destroyed everything. ”
“Three people were arrested. They are Mantse Ayikwei, Nii Ayitei, then Kwaku Ananse, who is one of the artists. They are currently at the central police station.
COVID-19: 2021 “Chale Wote” will be a virtual event – AMA
On August 13, 2021, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) announced that the 2021 edition of “Chale Wote” would be a virtual event due to the upsurge in COVID-19 cases.
This year’s event started on Friday August 13 and is scheduled to end on Sunday August 22, 2021.
It is not clear, however, if the arrest of the two organizers and the artist is in any way linked to the violation of COVID-19 protocols, as a virtual event will always require a location that will broadcast the event in direct.
Nicholas Tetteh Wayo told citinewsroom.com he didn’t think the arrest had anything to do with COVID-19 security protocols, alleging something fishy was going on.
“We watched everything; we were masked. If it [the arrest] talk about covid, go to Makola and see what’s going on in Makola. This is not about COVID, there is something fishy. They have their selfish interest, that’s what I know, it’s not about COVID, “he said.
“There were a lot of people at the time of the arrest. You know, people like to come to this festival; it’s funny. It was supposed to be virtual, but people want to come, and they were coming. We were doing things inside Fort Ussher, and not everyone came in, but some people were there to do performances just for fun ”.
The “Chale Wote” street art festival is a platform of Ghanaian origin that brings together art, music, dance and performance in the streets.
This year’s edition of the festival marks ten (10) years of its existence since its launch
in 2011 to promote appreciation of various art forms in Ghana.
—Citinenews
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