Movement Fix the country is moving many people to demonstrate for fundamental change in the major city of Tamale in the north of the country. A hope in a region where much violence has spread in some of Ghana's neighboring countries in West Africa. From the International PeaceFactory Wanfried we are in conversation with organizers of the movement: We discuss how awakening movements in Ghana and Germany can learn with and from each other and support each other in "putting our countries in order" and together address global problems - such as climate change, spread of war and violence, implementation of decent living conditions for all.
With a large demonstration, especially young people in the northern Ghanaian city of Tamale are calling on politicians at all levels to put people's living conditions in order. Similar demonstrations have taken place in other cities in the resource-rich West African country in recent months. The action in the north was preceded by several months of grassroots work by Fix the county activists in the region, and the demonstration shows it was successful. Fix the country moves the youth not to put their hope in fleeing to Europe, to rely solely on electing another party or even on violence, but to seek solutions to the major problems that plague many people, such as a lack of prospects for young people, unemployment, a lack of educational opportunities, a lack of health care or a glaring gap between rich and poor, through their own commitment to changing society.
On its homepage, the Fix the Country movement writes: "#FixTheCountry is a non-partisan and non-political civic movement by Ghanaian youth for Ghana. We demand a new society based on justice. We refuse to play by the rules of a political class that is so disinterested in the Ghana project. We demand a realignment and a change in the assumptions from which the pervasive immorality in our society emanates." It is not only targeting national politics, but also wants to start building the new society from the bottom up: with the project Enforcing Accountability, the movement aims to draw attention to the Municipal, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). It sees them as the agents of local development and the most reliable actors for "fixing the country." From them, they demand detailed action programs and annual metrics for various areas of the district economy.
Further, Fix thecountry advocates for the drafting and adoption of a new constitution. (translated from: https://fixthecountrygh.com/)
The state of Ghana was imposed on the people by the European colonial powers - in the case of Ghana by Great Britain and Germany. They organized a state for the interests of Europeans, not Ghanaians, and placed themselves above any general law that applied to the people of Ghana. This right to make laws only for the people and to put themselves above the law and thus enrich themselves from the people and the land was taken over by the elites from the colonial powers when they came to power at independence and continued. The movement criticizes this and, in a kind of second state formation of its own by the Ghanaian people in a peaceful and grassroots democratic way, now wants to create a state not only for the elites cooperating with the former colonial powers, but for all the people of Ghana. To this end, the movement is calling for a new, just constitution.
more reports from the demonstration in Tamale: https://gna.org.gh/2023/01/thousands-of-youth-join-fix-the-country-demonstration-in-tamale
Thousands of youth join ‘Fix the Country’ demonstration in Tamale
"We need a constitution that is fair and just," reads one of the placards.
