Politics of Monday, 10 May 2021

Source: 3news.com

Majority Leader slams anti-govt social media campaign

Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has taken exception to a social media campaign, demanding good governance from the country’s political leadership.

The campaign is dubbed #FixTheCountry with key contributors bent on taking their demands onto the streets in a demonstration which has become a subject of court action.

Addressing journalists on Friday, May 6, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Government Business said it is becoming a worry in recent days for faceless persons to put out issues in the media, out of uninformed positions, and drive national discourse.

“Oftentimes, it is not premised on anything or any research,” he emphasized.

“It is somebody’s suggestion and then for one week as a nation, it’s driving us into an enclave of unnecessary discourse but it’s because we are not allowing our society to be driven by informed matters, research from the academia, from civil society organisations, matters that they might have deliberated on or researched into over a long period.

“Those are matters of substance that will inure to our development agenda. Many of the matters that are coming across and because people are not reading much, there’s a contortion of what somebody said and the whole nation is feeding on it.

“I believe that we have a very credible assemblage of personalities that will bring their knowledge, their experience, their wisdom to bear.”

So far, the polie have secured an Accra High Court restraining order on the demonstration which was originally scheduled to be staged on Sunday, May9.

The organisers of the protests have also gone to court to challenge the order.

Already, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has responded to some of the claims made in the social media campaign.

“We are four months into our four year mandate. The job of government is to fix problems. This is what we have been doing since 2017.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the global economy and caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement and iron rods as well as overall cost of shipping.

“Nevertheless, it is very important to place the performance of our government over the last four years after inheriting an economy with “no meat on the bone” on record. Ours is a government that listens and cares. The facts and data speak for themselves. Trust President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”