Fix the Country!
That has been the clarion call in the past week by large sections of Ghanaians on social media, which has eventually taken over the mainstream media landscape.
And what is this clarion call about?
It’s about ordinary Ghanaians, mostly young people, venting their frustration not necessarily or entirely aimed at this particular government, but rather successive governments and their seeming failure in improving the conditions of ordinary Ghanaians
But of course, it is the NPP that is in power now, having just won a Presidential election and being given the mandate to govern for the next 4 years – so naturally a lot of the agitations and problems being highlighted by the #FixTheCountry movement will be directed against the NPP government! That’s to be expected
And some of the problems being highlighted include:
- Rising youth unemployment;
- Erratic power and water supply;
- Bad roads;
- Corruption;
- Rising cost of living;
- Poor sanitation;
- Galamsey;
- Perceived ‘culture of silence’
- Cedi depreciation and so on and so forth.
But was the immediate reaction and response from some government functionaries and sympathizers of the ruling NPP? A counter hashtag #FixYourself!
Well, I’m not a communication professional, neither do I have any particular expertise in political communications, but even if all the people promoting and supporting the FixTheCountry movement were opposition personalities and functionaries (which I believe not all of them are), #FixYourself is definitely not an appropriate response
That’s because its smacks of arrogance and at first sight does not necessarily respond to some of the legitimate issues being highlighted by the proponents of FixTheCountry
Thankfully, it became #WeAreFixingIt, #NanaIsFixingIt, #HeIsFixingIt, #LetsFixItTogether etc. – which to me is generally respectful of the FixTheCountry movement, seeing that these are ordinary Ghanaian youth essentially exercising one form of their civil and political rights
My question however is this: is it a legitimate call for citizens to FixThemselves for the collective good?
The inescapable conclusion I arrive at is that FixTheCountry and FixYourself can be seen as two sides of the same metaphorical coin, which is our homeland Ghana
On the one hand, we vote for successive governments to “Fix” the country – that is not in dispute and we should continuously hold governments to account; but on the other hand, we the citizens of Ghana have the duty to be good citizens in all respects and in all facets of our day to day lives
I do not think that any Ghanaian who has lived in Ghana for the past decade or so can deny the fact that we have a collective problem in Ghana, that transcends political party affiliation – INDISCIPLINE
We are inherently an indisciplined people, and it is about time we re-start a national conversation about this and take concrete actions towards its eradication
Indiscipline, which has led to lawlessness and impunity has characterized much of this 4th Republic of ours
We drive on the shoulders of the road whenever there is traffic; we engage in illegal electricity connection; we pay bribes; we throw rubbish on the streets like it’s nobody’s business; we even engage in illegal mining destroying our water bodies etc.
But that does not however mean that we give our government a free ride in all of this, and that’s why FixTheCountry and FixYourself epitomizes the State of our dear homeland Ghana
For in one breadth, successive governments, even though they have tried their best in advancing the lives of the people, have generally failed in delivering on their promises and have not been firm in inculcating an enforcement culture
And in another breadth, we the people have also failed woefully to be good citizens in holding governments to account either because of our political affiliations or because we benefit from the lack of an enforcement culture and generally profit from doing the wrong thing etc.
So, let this clarion call to FixTheCountry, serve as a reminder to all of us to play our parts in nation building, by reflecting on the following words:
“Hail to thy name, O Ghana, To thee we make our solemn vow: Steadfast to build together A Nation strong in Unity; With our gifts of mind and strength of arm, Whether night or day, in the midst of storm, In every need, whatever the call may be, To serve thee, Ghana, now and evermore”
This editorial was scripted by the host of The Forum – Asaase Radio’s Saturday-morning current affairs and news analysis programme.
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