By Professor Jeffrey Haynes, London Metropolitan University, UK
#FixtheCountry was founded two years ago on 3 May 2021. Since then, the social movement has organised demonstrations in Accra and elsewhere, most recently in Tamale, where thousands of mainly young people protested on 23 January.
The 23 January demonstration took place in the context of #Fixthe Country’s nationwide series of demonstrations. More are planned, seeking to pressurise the Akufo-Addo government urgently to address socio-economic concerns, especially felt by the youth.
The best way to do this, demonstrators felt, is to revise the 1992 constitution, to address social inequalities and improve democratic accountability.
Ghana is going through very tough times, as every Ghanaian knows. Economically, things have been declining for some years. Many say there is more corruption around now, partly stimulated by the post-2010s oil wealth. Prior to this, Ghana had experienced rapid economic growth.
Many observers explained this by the effects of good governance, consequential to economic and developmental programmes to improve Ghanaians’ quality of life, especially that of the poor living in regions far from Accra, including the Volta, Northern and Upper regions.
Economic gains were boosted from 2007 with the discovery of offshore oil, and for the next few years, Ghana’s economy showed signs of exuberant growth.
In 2019, the IMF described Ghana as ‘the world’s fastest growing economy’, with ‘skyrocketing’growth. By 2022, Ghana had made remarkable progress;and some claimed Ghana was then the world’s fastest growing economy.
In addition, Ghana saw improved human development indicators (HDI).The Oxford Business Group reported in 2019 that Ghana’s HDI, as reported by the United Nations Development Programme, showed increased average life expectancy, rising from 56.8 years in 1990 to 63 in 2017.
What’s more, Ghanaians were becoming better educated– with mean years of schooling increasing from 4.9 to 7.1 years. Progress enabled the country’s HDI to advance from 0.455 to 0.592, placing Ghana in the ‘medium’ category, the leading country in sub-Saharan Africa.
Today, things are – much – less good. Economic conditions seem to be worsening by the day. In February, the inflation rate was a whopping 52.8%, before declining slightly to 45% in March. People cannot keep up with fast-rising prices. They see them increasing by the day and many despair. An estimated one third of Ghanaians under 30 are unemployed– and the government imposes new levies to try to balance the books. A USD3 billion-dollar IMF loan is keenly awaited by the government – anxious to try to shore up its chances of re-election in December 2024.
Many Ghanaians and foreign observers are puzzled at the extent of poverty in a country identified in 2019 as the world’s fastest growing economy. Ghana produces gold, cocoa, and oil. The cedi lost 40.05% in value to the US dollar in nine months of 2022, ranking it as the second worst performing currency in the world.
The government blames the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but other countries have suffered from these too, and few are as badly off as Ghana.
#FixtheCountry was founded two years ago in the wake of these deepening economic disappointments. The social movement’s demonstrations are well attended and make a serious point about governmental failures to deliver for the people, including the poor and underprivileged.
The government’s response has been less than welcoming. Despite #FixtheCountry being convinced that the democratic way forward is the only way for Ghana, the government’s response has been to label the social movement as extremist and its leaders subversive, claiming they wish to see a coup d’état to change things in the way that #FixtheCountry wants to see. Having spoken to convenors of #FixtheCountry, I am convinced that they are progressive not subversive and seek the best for Ghana, especially for the youth, for females, the poor and the under-privileged.
This is the purpose of their demonstrations and agitations: to pressurise government to do better. It is a pity that the government doesn’t agree, and doesn’t do more to fix the developing crisis.
