Social discontent continues to grow in Ghana. Launched in 2021, the Fix The Country protest movement broke its mobilization record, claiming 120,000 demonstrators on Saturday September 23, after three days of consecutive demonstrations in the capital, Accra.
The Reasons Of The Wrath ? “High taxes, high inflation, high cost of living, high unemployment, the deplorable state of our infrastructure, roads, schools, health care facilities…” lists Chris Atadika, researcher in political communication and demonstrator. The economic growth of the 2010s has since been overtaken by inflation which now exceeds 40%. Many Ghanaians can no longer afford three meals a day and the protest has spread to the middle classes.
“The poor state of our economy is the result of the corrupt practices of government officials over the years,” denounces Chris Atadika, while the demonstrators have found a new slogan: “Occupy Julorbi House”, a play on words between “ Jubilee House”, the name of the presidential palace, and “Julorbi” which means “thieves” in the Ga language. President Nana Akufo-Addo has today become the first target of protesters, who are calling for his resignation.
“Mismanagement, corruption, embezzlement”
Faced with the growing mobilization, the response of the police was brutal. Forty-nine demonstrators were arrested on Thursday, the first day of demonstrations. Some denounce police violence, videos of which are circulating on social networks. “We were severely beaten and manhandled,” Amelia Amemate, one of the arrested protesters, said in a statement. They pushed us into police vehicles and took us to the Accra regional command, where we were beaten by security officers who were not in uniform. »
The Ghana Bar Association has protested against “a violation by Ghana Police officers of the 1992 Constitution”, after a lawyer who came to defend the arrested protesters, Mr Richmond Rockson, was arbitrarily arrested and beaten by the law enforcement.
“Our movement has wanted to draw attention to the growing abuse of power for months,” laments Oliver Barker Vormawor, one of the leaders of Fix The Country. Extrajudicial killings and arrests of activists and journalists have become commonplace under the current presidency. » Anti-corruption activist Ibrahim “Kaaka” Muhammed was beaten to death on June 26, 2021 by unknown assailants, after receiving death threats.
“President Akufo-Addo, his family and friends, as well as the ruling New Patriotic Party [NPP], have taken over key public and parastatal institutions, the media and civil society,” continues Professor Gyimah-Boadi , director of the pan-African research office Afrobarometer. This created the conditions for endemic economic mismanagement, corruption and embezzlement. »
Internal divisions within the presidential party
In July, Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah caused controversy by bringing former domestic workers to court, whom she accused of stealing her personal effects and cash. In this case, $1 million, 300,000 euros and millions of cedis, the local currency. The provenance of such a treasure was immediately questioned and although the minister ended up resigning without ceasing to proclaim her innocence, she benefited from the trust of President Akufo-Addo until the end.
To try to regain favor with the conservative electorate, the government has focused in the last two years on homophobic rhetoric, equating the Ghanaian LGBT community with an interference with Western values. A bill aiming to impose heavier penalties on homosexuality, already illegal, is currently being examined in Parliament.
“This further discredits the political establishment,” underlines Professor Gyimah-Boadi, “whom the population accuses of attacking a minority of the population rather than tackling the country’s real problems. » But this offensive is also an extended hand to religious leaders, in particular Pentecostals, who have become powerful allies of the government of Nana Akufo-Addo.
Despite the popular revolt and internal divisions, the presidential party is trying to put itself in battle order for the general elections scheduled for December 7, 2024. The NPP must choose its candidate in November, while Nana Akufo-Addo is constrained by the Constitution to hand over power at the end of his second term. Hoping to escape criticism of his record, former trade minister Alan Kyeremanten, who resigned from his post in January, announced on Monday that he was also preparing to leave the party, to run as independent candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
