I expect the President to speak on #FixTheCountry concerns not the Finance Minister – Kwame Jantuah

Former Vice Chairperson of the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC), Kwame Jantuah wants the President to address the country on the concerns raised by the #FixTheCountry movement.

The group has within the last few days been protesting on social media calling on leaders of the country to deal with the harsh living conditions in the country.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on separate occasions have outlined various means through which government is addressing the challenges of Ghanaians but speaking to Citi News, Kwame Jantuah insisted that with the momentum the movement has generated, the President must break his silence.

“I don’t even expect the Finance Ministry to be talking about this. I expect the President because it hits that button. It hits the Presidency and I thought that the President will [talk to Ghanaians] so we hear what he has to say. Is the President different from us? Did he vote for himself? So if there is a challenge, shouldn’t he listen to the people?”

There have been more than 700,000 tweets by Ghanaians with the hashtag #FixTheCountry among other related ones to impress upon the government to address the rising cost of living and poor living standards.

Issues such as unemployment, power outages and poor health service delivery are among the concerns being raised by the campaigners.

The government has in reaction to the campaign said it is already fixing the issues raised and has called for calm among the campaigners.

But some members of the movement say the government’s response is not satisfactory.

The Director of Business Operations of Dalex Finance, Mr. Joe Jackson, had earlier said the Finance Minister failed to address the real concerns raised by Ghanaians in his recent press conference.

According to him, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta only rehashed the government’s undertakings over the period which falls short of ameliorating the economic hardship of Ghanaians.

Speaking on The Point of View on Citi TV, Mr. Joe Jackson said the current anger of the people cannot be addressed by press conferences but by real actions.

“Trumpeting your achievements does not fix my pocket and when I talk about my pocket, I’m talking about those public sentiments that are being expressed, and the dissatisfaction in the level of unemployment with the public services, the dumsor, the roads, and the issues to do with education, security, health services, and housing which is making people unhappy and the perception of the increasing levels of corruption.”

“So telling somebody who says there is corruption, telling him about 1D1F, telling him about Planting for Food and Jobs and the others and however deep-rooted these may be in truth does not solve his or her problem.”