A former Deputy Information Minister in the Mahama administration has called on the Vice President to come clear on his response to protestors in the #FixTheCountry campaign.
Following the massive social media campaign by some unhappy Ghanaians on issues affecting the citizenry, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in a Facebook post on Thursday assured that the government is poised to get a solution.
According to Dr Bawumia, “the job of government is to fix problems. This is what we have been doing since 2017.”
Speaking on NewsFile Saturday, Mr Kwakye said the Vice President’s response does not tackle the identified problems.
“With the greatest respect to the Vice President and my friend Gideon, these responses do not address the concerns that are being raised. People are saying that they are living under excruciating hardships”.
As part of addressing the challenges in the country, the Vice President in March led the launch of an ECG Mobile App to enable citizens to purchase electricity credit via mobile money, ports of the Vice President's Facebook post read.
However, Mr Kwakye Ofosu questioned the connection to the current issues.
“How does that address the concern of the man who goes to the pump today and now he’s paying far more than he did in the past,” he quizzed.
Also, automation of the government’s services, he noted, does not address the concerns that are raised about hardship.
“Again, you must engage in this hardship against the backdrop of commitments and promises that the same Vice President when he wanted to be elected to public office,” he said.
The former Deputy Minister also recalled that Dr Bawumia, when in opposition, condemned the imposition of taxes, yet supported an increment of same under his government.
“He said that taxes hurt the economy, and yet as head of the economic management team, he has orchestrated the imposition of as many as 12 different taxes,” Mr Ofosu Kwakye said.
He is, therefore, of the view that the imposition of levies had led to the problem hence the #FixTheCountry protestors' call on the government to fix the problem created.
“These 12 taxes have combined to have the effect that it is having on the people of Ghana, so when they complain, it is not automation of government’s services that resolves these issues.”
Meanwhile, the campaigners had planned a demonstration against the government on Sunday, May 9 but the police secured an injunction against the move to prevent a surge of Covid-19 in the country.
However, Mr Kwakye Ofosu said the notification served to the police by the protesters was a comprehensive one, therefore preventing them would be unfair.
“They go a step further to indicate what specifics that would be taken to ensure that we do not have instances of escalation of Covid-19 cases in Ghana.”
According to him, preventing the demonstrators rather compounds the situation of their already sufferings.
“In other words, they are being prevented from crime after they have been punched in their guts, you cannot do that to any people,” he said.
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