There is a new revolutionary song in town, trumpeted by a myriad of voices directed at the powers that be, to fix the country.
The #FixTheCountry campaign was ignited on social media, specifically on Twitter to hoot at the nation’s politicians. To live up to the mantle they sought our votes for, to solve the perennial problems facing the country with no end in sight.
What began as just a hashtag on social media is starting to assume the voice of a clarion call from the hitherto observer population of this country.
The youth of the country has long been treated as pariahs of the political infrastructure of Ghana. But like the game of chess, the hardworking pawns have reached the other side of the power board and are thus promoted as queens, knights, bishops and rooks to topple the old status quo.
Before now, the cries of the suffering masses have been far too aloof from the almighty politician to hear, no matter how hard and loud we cry. So much so that the President, in his inauguration speech admonished Ghanaians to be “citizens not spectators” to his government.
Mr. President renewed this charge in his second term of office, to criticize and help build as citizens and not just standby unconcerned as spectators at a circus show.
And that appeal has materialized and culminated into the #FixTheCountry #NameAndShame campaigns that caught fire from the most unsuspecting places, social media.
This patriotic campaign wasn’t started by the older generation citizens of this country who should have the ears of our leaders but rather by the younger generation citizens of our beloved country, who were only observers. It was possible because of only one positive factor, the internet, which is not censorable by our immediate government unlike the traditional media.
The statistics of Ghana’s demography points to the fact that the population of the younger generation has fast outgrown that of the older generation. And since the beginning of the year 2000, the mindset and social dynamics of the youth is starkly different from the older generation, due mainly to the advent of the internet.
This technological and social phenomenon ushered the world into a new reality called the “global village” or simply put, globalization. No country or society is an island anymore, there’s ubiquitous interaction between its inhabitants around the world.
This has engendered a new world called the virtual sphere/social media, where everyone can exist without the discriminations of our physical society. This is where anyone can have access to the almighty President or any of the ‘big men’ in our country without the strict protocol that comes with it.
The virtual sphere or the internet or the social media brings everyone on an equal platform or footing which was never possible a few decades ago in our world.
On this virtual sphere is a new community called Twitter, where the President has a room there, his cohorts have rooms there, even I have a room there and also millions of Ghanaians. The youth of our beloved country who are becoming more and more politically discerning and vocal because of education and the exposure from the two.
In this new world, there is no stratified order to isolate the common man from the almighty President, making our leaders easily accessible. Today, one problem in the north of Ghana is easily shared and before you know it such a problem is common in the south and every part of our society.
This is the new avenue for the youth to vent their anger, frustration, disappointment and disillusionment to the persons in authority who came to us with all the sweet-talk to get our votes to “fix the country”.
That is the only social contract we have with them, that’s why we elect them every four years to accord them with so much ‘honorable’ respect and privileges that they turn around to look down on us. It is this seething disillusionment that has engendered the #FixTheCountry revolution to call the politicians to book, on their promise to secure our end of the social contract.
I am a strong proponent of the #FixTheCountry campaign because I know this is what the philosophers call the “Zeitgeist”, the feeling of the times we live in. It is assuming the feeling of the popular uproar that ignited the French revolution. Yet I still realize that the problem of this country is so decadent that it demands a concerted effort and action to fix them.
The truth of the matter is that no single individual can save this country but all of us. It will take all of us to come to the realization that the savior we are waiting or looking for is the one we see in the mirror every day. The savior complex is the privy of ‘massa’ Jesus only. Mother Ghana needs all of us to fix her back in shape.
What we can have in a person is a leader, an initiator who will bring the awareness and political will to start fixing our collective problems. Every new paradigm is ignited by only one person but takes a collective effort to yield results. The Rwandan story is a perfect example, it took only one good leader with the right knowledge and good will to initiate a new revolution.
A country that was ravaged by civil war that resulted in genocide only 27 years ago has bounced back better than before because of just one man, one leader in the person of Paul Kagame. Today, Rwanda is well conscientized and on the right course of development more than Ghana who have not endured a pinch of their misfortune. This is possible because of only one factor, GOOD LEADERSHIP, which is what we have been lacking since Osagyefo was putsched out of the political scene.
I agree the politicians must lead the charge in fixing the country back on the right course but it will take all of our concerted effort to bring about the change we are looking for. A change in the economy, a change in sanitation, a change in our power system, a change in the educational system, a change in leadership and importantly, a change in our mindset.
This is the sole reason why I say #Let’sFixMotherGhana together before we lose it entirely to outsiders. Let’s see this opportunity for what it is, a clarion call to save the sinking ship of a country we are trapped in. We need to cross this Rubicon together, #Let’sSaveMotherGhana for the benefit of the future generation, we can’t defer any more. #Let’sFixTheCountryNow. Hey! What do I know, I’m just a ‘John’ somewhere..!
By Barima Kwabena Yeboah|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter:@yeboah_barima
The writer is an intern with the Media General Group. Views expressed in this article are entirely the author’s and do not in any way reflect those of the Media General Group or any of its affiliates.