The Vice President of policy think-tank IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, says the Akufo-Addo-led government has failed to meet the expectations of Ghanaians who voted it into office in 2016.
According to him, the government, before it was voted into office painted a very promising picture to the citizenry, a reason why many gave it the mandate to govern.
“You are measured according to the expectation that you create, and this government created very big expectations and they haven’t met them,” he told the host of Joy News' Newsfile, Samson Lardy Anyenini, Saturday.
His comment comes on the back of the ‘#FixTheCountry’ campaign by some aggrieved Ghanaians, mostly youth on social media who have registered their displeasure over how the country is being run by the Akufo-Addo government.
Dominant in the sentiments shared on Twitter are rising youth unemployment, dilapidated health system, skyrocketing home-renting structure, poor road networks, taxes, increment of fuel, among others.
Mr Bentil who was part of the 'Occupy Flagstaff House' protesters in 2016 against the Mahama government on similar issues relating to the running of the country, said Ghanaians can attest to the government’s failure.
He noted that although the issues of concern had similarities with that of the erstwhile government, they are not the same.
“Nobody would say that the President has lived up to expectation, I don’t have any problem making that clear,” he said.
He was quick to add however that, “No real analyst will tell you that the problems that we have now are the same as the problems that we had then.”
Mr Bentil explained that at the time [2016], it looked as if there was no solution, which necessitated their protest.
“This is not what we were facing, this is not what drove us unto the streets and I can debate anybody on that,” he said, Saturday.
“So the issues are similar but they are not the same,” he stressed.
“Essentially, if you talk about corruption, it’s still there, if you talk about the fuel increase it's still there,” he added.
The lawyer further indicated that “the government came in on the promise that they were different, would do better and they set very high expectations,” a reason he is personally disappointed.
Mr Bentil, therefore, said since the NPP government refused to cut its coat according to its cloth, “it’s reasonable for them to be held to the expectations that they set.”
Meanwhile, the police have secured an injunction to stop the organisers of the #FixTheCountry protest from carrying out their planned demonstration against the government on Sunday, May 9.
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