#FixTheCountry campaign borne out of rising inequality, hopelessness – Joe Jackson

A financial analyst with Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, says the government’s reaction to the #FixTheCountry campaign smacks of being tone-deaf and insensitive to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.

According to him, the government’s continuous claims that it has improved the economic situation of the country in the responses to the campaign, only evokes anger from the many despondent Ghanaians who are yet to see any improvement in their lives.

Speaking on The Point of View on Citi TV Monday, Mr. Jackson said the government must take a pause and listen to the sentiments of the campaigners rather than making claims about things people cannot confess to benefiting from.

“The more you trumpet the growth, the more I feel angry because I don’t feel it. The more you tell me you’ve created two million jobs when I’m jobless, it heaps fire on my pains,” he said.

He stated that the best way to prove the government’s commitment to fixing the issues raised by the campaigners is to take radical decisions such as cutting down on the size of the government and ceasing the flagrant use of sirens by state appointees to cut through traffic.

“Clearly, it is the inequality and the dashed hopes that are causing the anger. It is easy for us to say if we stop driving the V8 it will not solve the problem, that is true, but it will make people less angry when that is done. It is the anger we are addressing,” he noted.

There have been more than 700,000 tweets by Ghanaians with the hashtag #FixTheCountry among other related ones to impress upon 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 according to Joe Jackson, that is not the way to address the situation.

Mr. Jackson believes that the campaigners are frustrated by the many challenges they face in the country and have observed what appears to be wastage and inefficiencies in government which is making them angry.

“There is a waste that can be addressed and to say that you can’t solve the problem today does not address the anger that the ‘Fix The Country’ hashtag is telling you…because it is a perception thing, you fix it by perception. You cut down the size of the government,” he added.

He said the government must desist from claiming that the campaign is being sponsored by the opposition and instead work to address the problems.

He further expressed fear that the campaign could lead to an explosion with dire consequences if the issues are not fixed.