A member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government and pre-2016 election pressure group- OccupyGhana, Kofi Kapito has said, his party cannot continue to blame the hardships Ghanaians are going through on the novel Coronavirus pandemic which has ravaged many robust economies in the world.
Kofi Kapito who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) noted, that the earlier the government accepted that it was voted to fix problems and not to complain the better for it.
He was unhappy with the government’s attempt to shirk its responsibility when it knew that its primary focus should be the welfare of the citizenry.
“As a card-bearing member of the NPP, I expect the government to humbly tell Ghanaians how difficult things have become because of the coronavirus and plead with the people to have patience and not to give excuses”, he said.
The outspoken member of the OccupyGhana who is currently domiciling in the United States of America (USA) made these observations on Amansan Television’s (ATV) current affairs show, ‘ Asem Yi Dika’ on Monday, May 10, 2021 whiles commenting on the #FixTheCountry campaign.
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His comments followed the response by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta to the #FixTheCountry campaigners at a press conference held last week Sunday in Accra.
Whiles acknowledging the concerns raised by the campaigners, the Minister of Finance however, said, for the first time in 64 years of as a nation, “a Ghanaian Government had to tackle a severe health crisis and its attendant economic crisis”.
According to Mr Ofori-Atta, the outbreak and the ensuing partial lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus brought the socio-economic activities in the country to a virtual halt, “with the resultant loss of jobs, incomes, the collapse of businesses and loss of Government revenues”.
He also blamed the sudden relapse in the country’s debt situation from 62.4% (2019) – 76.1% (2020) on the decisive and unparalleled measures the government took to protect Ghanaians which he claimed came with a cost.
But, Mr Kapito would not take any of these as an excuse for the government to sit down unconcerned whiles the citizenry go through difficulties.
He therefore called on the government to, as a matter of urgency address the concerns raised by Ghanaians.
The #FixTheCountry hashtag was started by popular Ghanaian Twitter influencer, KalyJay (whose real name is Joshua Boye-Doe) in reaction to push the concerns of citizens and demand accountability from the government.
Some celebrities and political activists later joined the campaign and the hashtag and its variants including #fixthecountrynow, #nameandshame, #fixitnow, #fixmotherghana have been at the top of the Twitter trends for over a week.
The tweets have expressed displeasure over successive government’s failure to improve the living standards of Ghanaians. Among the concerns include dumsor, unemployment, galamsey, and poor healthcare systems which they cite as proof of successive governments’ mismanagement of the country.
The conveners intended to gather supporters for a demonstration at the Black Star Square in Accra on May 9, 2021 but had to alter their plans after the Ghana Police Service secured an injunction against it.
The conveners are at the Supreme Court challenging the injunction with the hearing scheduled for June 8, 2021.
By Atta KWAKU BOADI || Today
