- “Fixing the country is the responsibility of all of us. If for instance, you throw garbage in the gutter and the rain pushes it somewhere else and blocks the flow of water and the place gets flooded who do you blame? We are tired our place gets flooded all the time… you are responsible initially for creating that situation, so you don’t blame anybody."
Robert Owusu, a veteran broadcast journalist has said that fixing challenges in the country must be the concern of all Ghanaians and not the sole responsibility of government.
A section of Ghanaians a few weeks ago took to social media to protest over what they describe as “bad governance and the high cost of living in the country.” This follows an increase in fuel prices, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices as well as price for data and call.
Speaking on Sunday Night with Nana Yaa Mensah on 9 May 2021, the veteran broadcaster said Ghanaians must change their attitude towards national development.
“Fixing the country is the responsibility of all of us. If for instance, you throw garbage in the gutter and the rain pushes it somewhere else and blocks the flow of water and the place gets flooded who do you blame? We are tired our place gets flooded all the time… you are responsible initially for creating that situation, so you don’t blame anybody,” Owusu said.
He added: “Everything government, unfortunately who suffers wear the crown, … because people refuse to accept that what is going wrong is their responsibility, for instance why should you build on reserve areas and water-logged areas… at the end of the day you don’t blame anybody if the government decides to pull the structure down.”
He is admonishing Ghanaians to do the right thing in order to contribute to government’s effort of developing the country.
#FixTheCountry campaign premature
Meanwhile, Professor Ransford Gyampo, an associate professor at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana has described the call by #FixTheCountry campaigners for the government to fix the myriad of problems facing the country as premature.
Speaking to Kojo Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show (ABS) on Friday (7 May), Prof Gyampo said the call cannot be justified especially when the president is still in the process of forming his government.
“My view is that this is a new government, people are doing their own maths and calculation and saying that government has been in office for five years, but in my own thinking, I think this is a government in a second term, the government itself is yet to be fully formed,” he said.
He added, “As we speak now ministers have been appointed but deputy ministers are yet to be vetted, MMDCE’s have not been appointed, boards that have been dissolved are yet to be fully reconstituted.”
Grace period
Prof Gyampo wants the conveners of the #FixTheCountry campaign to give the government at least three months before making their demands.
“And so in my view, the government is yet to be fully formed and so if there is the need to make such calls, I would have wished that those calls had delayed a little, let give them two to three more months…. I think those making the calls should exercise some restraint.”
He, however, described as unfortunate the attempt to link organisers of the campaign to elements in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Injunction
Meanwhile, an Accra High Court has banned the organisers of the #FixTheCountry campaign from going on their planned protest on 9 May 2021.
The brains behind the viral #FixTheCountry campaign on social media had served notice of a public protest slated for 9 May 2021.
In a notice to the police, the conveners said the protest is to draw the government’s attention to the unemployment situation in the country coupled with other unfulfilled promises.
“We write with reference to Section 1 of the Public Order Act (Act 491), which provides that any person who desires to hold any special event within the meaning of that Act in any public place shall notify the police of his intention not less than five days before the date of the special event,” the notice to the police said.
The organisers promised to take into consideration all COVID-19 protocols, adding they do not intend to present a petition to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Fred Dzakpata
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