Government Distances Itself From #FixYourself Campaign
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has reacted to the heated arguments currently brewing between the youth and some members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the performance of President Nana Akufo-Addo in his second term.
The youth have been whining about how the cost of living has been heightened under the administration and have therefore coined #fixthecountry to deliver their grievances to the President.
The youth have called on the President to fix the country because, to them, he is doing almost nothing to remedy their hardships.
Among their complaints are high cost of living, high prices of commodities and fuel, government’s imposition of taxes on them among others.
But the youth have been challenged by some political actors in the President’s government to first fix their attitude if they want to see the changes they desire from the President.
Member of Parliament for the Nsawam Adoagiri constituency, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, following the #fixthecountry social media trend, hit hard at Ghanaians.
In a tweet sighted by Peacefmonline.com, Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh said; ”Take good notice of these too . . . FIX THE COUNTRY! FIX THE COUNTRY! GYIMIE (to wit ‘fools’)! You don’t pay your taxes. You politicize every good policy. You receive bribe. You enjoy illegal connections. You don’t respect your elders. You over price your product/services. You destroy State properties. You don’t keep your environment clean. You don’t go to work on time. You don’t buy anything Ghanaian. You chase teenagers who are every young to be your daughters. In fact you even cheat on your wife/husband. PLEASE FIX YOURSELF FIRST!”
He has however deleted the tweet but the debate on”fix the country” vrs ”fix yourself first” continues.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with an online portal, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah revealed the position of government on the issue.
To him, the ongoing debate is a healthy one that is opening room for a national discourse on the collective responsibility of each individual in the country to Ghana’s development.
In addressing the “fix yourself first” campaign, the Minister stated that the government officials telling Ghanaians to fix themselves are speaking their own minds, not communicating the offical response of the government to the debate.
He said the “government position has been that this is a healthy conversation. It gives us an opportunity to reiterate or to go back to some of the key things that we’ve been outlining and need to be dealt with and while at that, broaden it to look at what are collective responsibilities in executing that”.
“I speak for government. The government’s position that I have articulated doesn’t correspond with those ones that you talk about. The Vice President, who is the number 2 man in the land, when he had the opportunity to articulate the government response doesn’t go in accordance with that. The Finance Minister, the National Security Minister, they did not necessarily subscribe to those views as have been expressed by some people.
“Indeed, if you look at the conversation and that’s the democracy that we have. I’ve seen other celebrities take on other celebrities. I’ve seen other journalists take on other journalists. I’ve seen politicians take on politicians but the government response has been that this is a healthy conversation. It opens the door for us to broaden it, ought not to be politicized but to be taken advantage of in the pursuit of a certain common agenda for our people,” he accentuated.