Police Chase Own Tail In Fight Against Phantom #FixTheCountry Demo

A determination by the Police to make double sure that the #FixTheCountry protest planned for Sunday, 9th May 2021, did not come on, saw the constabulary deploy heavy-duty vehicles at the Black Star Square to squash the expected demonstration by the angry youth of Ghana asking for a change in the systemic rot in the country.

To throttle the place where the protestors had planned to climax the protest with public-spirited addresses about the incompetence and lies of the Akufo-Addo government, the Police had occupied the Square with vehicles including a heavy-duty crowd control monster on wheels.

However, all of the panic attacks which led to the clandestine plans of the Police ended up much ado about nothing because the protest organizers had never intended to disobey the ruling of a court of competent jurisdiction and had migrated their protests to social media which has more mileage.

Nobody turned up at the Black Star Square and the heavily armed Police who were waiting to unleash terror on demonstrators had to pack the monster vehicles and leave at the end of the day.

The protestors were smart about the protest, taking to social media instead and hitting it home to the Ghanaian youth that the time has come to stand up in objection to the choreography of lies, ironies of government promises and what they call the institutionalisation of incompetence in Ghana.

And #FixMotherGhana trended heavily on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even WhatsUp as angry Ghanaian youth took the opportunity to vent their frustration over the escalating cost of living, the high taxes, the abnormal accommodation rent, the institutionalized corruption and the return of ‘dumsor.’

Some protestors also tooted their car horns in town to vent their spleen while others drummed on whatever they could lay hands on as a way to clap at the government.

The #FixMotherGhana protest on social media is the latest mutation of a snowballing youth uprising against the status quo. First, it had started as the #FixTheCountry campaign with organizers planning to march on Sunday, 9th May to vent frustration over the systemic failure that has become a culture in Ghana.

The government responded by getting the Police to deny the protestors permission to protest, using the potential spread of COVID – 19 as an excuse. The Police would follow that up with a court application, finding favor with Justice Ruby Aryeetey of the High Court in Accra.

However, after Justice Aryeetey had granted the injunction, the #FixTheCountry campaign mutated into the #NameAndShame campaign which also trended heavily with Ghanaians taking photos of bad social infrastructure in Constituencies, and calling out MPs over them.

Then On Sunday, the day that had earlier been planned for the protest march, the organizers swerved the Police who had deployed in readiness to spray hot water, pepper sprays and use other tough crowd control equipment against protestors and floated the #FixMotherGhanaNow campaign on social media.

Meanwhile, the bourgeoning anger of the citizenry forced Government to hold panicky press conferences on Sunday to try to assuage the anger of the people.

However, at these press conferences, nothing new came from the same people who have been an underwhelming expectation for the past four years. Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah even sparked more anger when he claimed that Akufo-Addo is fixing the country.

Attorney General, Godfred Dame Yeboah, was also reported impugning the #FixTheCountry campaign organizers, saying they had exhibited bad faith in a meeting with National Security.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta also repeated the tired excuse of blaming COVID-19 for the current mess.