Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana, has described the #FixTheCountry campaign as a “wake-up call” for the country’s leadership.
While admitting that the timing of the campaign may be “unfair” for the 4-month-old New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, he still believed that the campaign is a “good beginning” for the change the citizenry seek.
“It is too much for the government because the government has not even begun and you are demanding accountability, probity, transparency and performance from the government, which to a large extent is unfair.
His comment comes ahead of the #FixTheCountry protest scheduled for May 9, with its main objective to allow protestors to register their unhappiness over what they describe as a failure by successive governments to improve the livelihood of the citizens.
In the letter signed by 20 individuals, they explained that the date, May 9, was selected to memorialise the 126 victims of the Accra Sports Stadium disaster some 20 years ago at the Accra Sports Stadium.
According to Dr Asah-Asante, the government was just about four months old and now that it was even being formed and had deputy ministers who had been nominated and they were now going to be vetted to be part of the government.
“For me, it’s a good beginning but I also think they must hasten slowly for the government to start so that you can take the government on so the campaign should be taken as a call to duty by the government.
“The state must make a conscious effort to be able to fix some of the issues for the society, so if a group emerges today they want to throw light on issues, which is a call to duty and criticisms are the oils that grease the wheels of governance and shape the frontiers of the government to enable those holders of political power to deliver the public goods and services,” Dr Asah-Asante pointed out.
He urged the government to take a cue from the campaign as it was congruent with the country’s Constitution adding that “power springs from the people, you realise you can never govern without people having a say in the governing processes.
“The preamble of the 1992 Constitution gives everybody the opportunity to be heard about how he or she is governed,” Dr Asah-Asante said. –myjoyonline.com
