‘We Need Time To Fix The Country’ – Agyemang Manu
Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has waded into the call by activists for the government to Fix The Country.
According to the Minister, the call was in the right direction and the government was committed to fixing the country but that will require that government be given time to prosecute its programmes to answer that demand.
He detailed the impact of COVID-19 as one of the major disruptors to the government’s programme in the past two years. He was speaking at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information on Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
“We couldn’t get imports from China because of lockdowns and factory closures. And even when we were easing ant it is like people could trade, how to even get your wares on a ship to Accra, Ghana became another difficulty, so freight charges started escalating.
“And when freight charges go up, we are importing inflation and definitely we will feel something in our country that will cumulate to some little hardships,” he submitted.
He spoke about how the impact of COVID-19 has affected the tourism industry adversely with people in the industry begging to stay in their jobs as others took salary cuts. The plight of private school teachers was another area he highlighted due to school closures.
He continued, “With that, will things not be hard? Who brought COVID? We have stopped evaluating this and we have gone ahead to form a #FixTheCountry Movement. Fix The Country, Fix The Country. Yes, government will fix the country but we need time for our programme,” he added.
The FixTheCountry Movement started off as a social media push for accountability and good governance. The first protest took place online before conveners formed a group that has undertaken on-ground protests in 2021.
One of the core points of advocacy for the group is the call for a new constitution.
The group took a keen interest in the Ejura violence saga in 2021 and recently petitioned the President to remove the Electoral Commissioners over the issue of SALL – an area in the Volta Region that does not have Parliamentary representation because of what they say is a breach by the EC during the 2020 general elections.