#FixTheCountry campaign driving us into an ‘enclave of unnecessary discourse’ – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

When the #FixTheCountry campaign took their fight to parliament by ‘naming and shaming’ MPs who they believe have underperformed, one that featured prominently was Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Suame MP.

The Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business was accused of having little to show for in his constituency after spending close to three decades in Parliament.

There were photos of terrible road networks in his constituency shared on social media to back such claims.

The #NameAndShame campaign which was started by some youth in the country has been commended and condemned in equal measure and Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, whose name is mentioned as one of the ‘failed’ MPs, is not pleased by the activism of the youth.

He describes the social media campaign as “an enclave of unnecessary discourse” as he attempted to downplay the significance of the movement which has amassed over half a million posts on social media.

While others view it as an assertiveness on the part of Ghanaian youth, the Majority Leader sees it from the angle of a bunch of Ghanaians making claims not backed by any form of research.

“Increasingly these days people put something in the media and it drives the course of the discussion which shouldn’t have been the case. Often times it is not premised on anything or research.

“Someone just shares something on social media and for one week it is driving us to an enclave of unnecessary discourse,” Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told a section of the media on Friday, May 7, 2021.

He indicated that discussions on national issues should be led by academia and ‘distinguished and credible’ persons.

He continued: “It’s because we are not allowing our society to be informed by research from academia or civil society organizations. Matters that they might have deliberated or researched over a long period. Those are matters that will inure to our development agenda. In many of the matters that are coming across, [seems] people are not reading.

“There is a contortion of what somebody says and the whole nation is feeding on it. I believe that we have a very credible assembly of persons that are going to bring their knowledge, experience and wisdom to bear,” the Suame MP stressed.