‘You Are Foolish “Gyimie” For Saying #Fix The Country’-NPP MP

The governing party’s MP for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has described as foolish the hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians, mostly the youth, who are demanding accountability and good governance from the Akufo Addo administration in the wildly viral social media campaign dubbed #FixTheCountry.

As of the last count, more than 600,000 Ghanaians have tweeted about #FixTheCountry; some 10,000 Ghanaians have signed the campaign’s petitioners within one day in a potential youth uprising in Ghana against bad governance. 

The Akufo Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) had sent its attack dogs in an attempt to counter the campaign with parallel narratives, and key personalities in the party, including Annoh-Dompreh jumped into the fray.

In his response, Annoh-Dompreh simply minimised the serious agitation of the youth for a stop to corruption and misgovernance by the Akufo Addo administration by asking the disgruntled youth to rather fix their own attitude.

“Take good notice of this too, Fix the Country, Fix the Country. Gyimie (meaning foolish in the Twi language)! You don’t pay your taxes, you politicise every good policy…you chase teenagers who are even young to be your daughters. In fact you even cheat on your wife/husband. Please fix yourself first,” Annoh-Dompreh wrote in a rebuttal on his social media account.

He was forced to quickly take down the provocative response when thousands of angry Ghanaian social media descended on his indiscreet statement.

He was eventually forced to grudgingly apologise, saying: “I would like to apologise for an earlier tweet which failed to convey both the seriousness of the times and to capture the essence of what the youth is demanding. Throughout my time in public office, I have always know that collective action and responsibility are important,” he said.

In relentless attacks aimed at the discontented Ghanaians calling for the country to be fixed, Hopeson Adorye, the defeated NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Kpone Katamanso Constituency and one given an unspecified portfolio at the National Security Agency, had pooh-poohed the campaign for good governance, accusing Ghanaians of not paying taxes and thus do not deserve to be calling for basic social infrastructure.

“You don’t pay Taxes and levies and you say wetin? Fix What?” Mr. Adorye fired. However the massive insults that greeted his recalcitrant statement has forced him to take down the post on his social media. He is now campaigning for #LetsFixItTogether.

Meanwhile, the uprising had started on Sunday, May 2, 2021, against the Akufo Addo administration as the hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians youth bemoan the sorry state of the economy, despite the government having contracted more loans than all governments since independence.

Prominent among the complaints by the youth are sentiments against the rising spate of youth unemployment, abandoned health system, skyrocketing home-renting rates, poor road networks, official connivance with Chinese miners to destroy forest reserves and water bodies across the country and a general lack of commitment to the welfare of Ghanaians citizens. 

The avalanche of anger pouring out of the country’s youthful population has forced political scientists to note that the entire episode could explode into an all-out civil uprising similar to ones in 2019 and 2020 that toppled four governments in Iraq, Sudan, Algeria and Bolivia. Similar uprisings in some 10 other countries like Chile, Ecuador, France, Spain, India, Honk Kong, etc, were forced to make drastic concessions to prevent an all-out blow over.

In Ghana, some celebrities, journalists, social commentators have joined in the brewing agitation for good governance.