Young people in Ghana want to #FixTheCountry

Social media users in Ghana are joining together under the hashtag #FixTheCountry to put pressure on the government. The movement has left cyberspace and taken to the streets.

In May 2021, the hashtag #FixTheCountry and some variations were created on social media by young Ghanaians calling for social and economic reform. The campaign quickly went viral, as thousands joined the protest movement, which also took aim at the government, perceived as having done a bad job. 

How did protests leave cyberspace and take to the streets?

The people behind the hashtag — who say they are nonpolitical — called for a street protest on May 9. They were unable to demonstrate, after police obtained an injunction against them, allegedly for safety reasons amid the COVID pandemic.

On July 6, banners with the hashtag were spotted at an anti-government demonstration in Accra which had been called by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). Members of the movement joined demands for justice for two people shot dead by police in the southern Ashanti region. They had been protesting against the fatal beating of youth activist Ibrahim "Kaaka" Mohammed on June 29.

Why Ghana?

Ernesto Yeboah from the activist group Economic Fighters League told DW that the present movement grew from a general feeling among the youth of not being heard by those in charge of the country.

"We are hungry," Yeboah said. "Things are bad. Things are difficult. Life is tough. And it doesn't make the headlines."

Ghana is often praised as a stable democracyin volatile West Africa. The presidential elections in December 2020 were considered free and fair by all observers. But the vote stoked political tensions. President Nana Akufo-Addo won a second term but gained only a small majority in parliament.

Burdened with growing public debt and revenues hit hard by the pandemic, the government has introduced new taxes. An increase in the price of fuel has hiked the cost of some essential goods and services.

Why are the young angry?

While the Ghanaian economy grew steadily in the past two decades, job creation lagged, according to a study by the Brookings Institute.

More than half of Ghana's population of 31 million are under 25. Many cannot afford to go to university. A third of young people neither have a job nor professional training, according to the World Bank. The level of frustration among them increased in step with the hardships brought on by the pandemic.

 

Participants in the Youth Connect Africa summit in Accra have called on governments on the continent to create opportunities for young people to lead in economic integration policies and deal-breaking initiatives.

Also, they urged governments to mobilize trade financing for young entrepreneurs to enable them to participate in the larger African market.

These were contained in a communique issued by the over 3,000 delegates who attended the summit in person and 15,000 young people who joined virtually.

The communique was read by the president of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Mr. Emmanuel Yiadom Boakye, at the end of the three-day summit last Friday.

The communique called for investment in capacity building for women to create leadership champions, entrepreneurs, and job creators.

They also asked for an investment in building logistics infrastructure and systems that would enable young entrepreneurs to quickly jump onto the opportunity created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

In addition, the youth wanted their governments to “make Africa Beyond Aid a reality and not a mere statement through Intra Africa collaboration across sectors”.

It said the youth could also lead the way out of unemployment if production corridors along value chains of the continent’s commodities and services were created.

That, the communique said, could be made easy through prioritizing and harmonizing the accreditations for different professions across the continent, in addition to the promotion of industry-relevant education.