Praise and pillory for Yvonne Nelson as IMANI 'big boys' diverge on vigil proposal

Leaders of policy think-tank IMANI Africa cannot seem to agree on a common position relative to a recent call for them to support a vigil against rolling power blackouts known as 'dumsor.'

While President Franklin Cudjoe fully supports the call for the vigil as called for by actress Yvonne Nelson, his Vice President Bright Simons stated in an X post that IMANI was not into the business of helping organize vigils.

Simons dissociated the organization from any direct involvement in the 2015 vigil held against the then-government of John Dramani Mahama.

Nelson was a lead activist in the popular 2015 protest along with a host of other celebrities and members of civil society.

In her April 22, 2024, post calling for IMANI's support, Nelson wrote: "Imani Ghana, can we organize another vigil? I've been waiting for you to reach out like you did years back. (your team made our demo a success) I'm reaching out myself. The NPP and its leadership @NAkufoAddo have taken Ghanaians for granted. #DUMSORMUSTSTOP."

Simons quoted the tweet with an initial reply that read: "We've been chasing ECG, pursuing CWM matters, fighting over gas value chain issues (a la Genser), probing power tariff proposals, highlighting IPP debt buildup etc etc. I'm afraid I've never seen Ms. Nelson amplify any of that work. Ever. Not even a retweet. Now, why is that?"

When an X user pointed out that Yvonne's call was well grounded with the current dumsor citizens were enduring, Simons responded: "Except that IMANI didn't organise any vigils.

"They were organised by pressure groups. Pressure groups are not permanent institutions. Ghana’s problems require long-term consistent advocacy best suited to INSTITUTIONS. Do YOU support such institutions? Does Ms. Nelson?"

Hours later, Franklin Cudjoe posted a message on Facebook fully endorsing Yvonne's call but stopping short of stating whether IMANI would be directly involved in a vigil.

"We have heard the call by the redoubtable Ms.Yvonne Nelson for round two of #dumsormuststop. Fair call even as we (IMANI) have maintained our criticism of government's bad decisions for what often seem like a rudderless leadership, the latest dumsor episodes being the zenith.

"So as you can see (T-shirts), we are preparing and we will make the call and choose how we demonstrate and who we want to partner at the right time. Meanwhile, others can also organise their own unique protests in churches, mosques, bars, schools and homes," he wrote tagging other members of IMANI including Simons, Kofi Bentil and Selorm Branttie.



The ‘dumsor’ palava

As far back as late 2023, Ghanaians in many parts of the country began experiencing incessant power cuts without warning.

These outages, which worsened in 2024, caused disruptions to businesses and the daily activities of citizens.

This has led to some citizens concluding that ‘dumsor’ is back.

The ‘dumsor’ situation in 2015 led to a massive protest which saw many celebrities including Yvonne Nelson and Prince David Osei partaking.

However, many government officials have claimed the outages are not a result of ‘dumsor’. They also insist that there was no need for a timetable.

The problem was further worsened when the Minister for Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, challenged those calling for a timetable to come up with one themselves.

We've been chasing ECG, pursuing CWM matters, fighting over gas value chain issues (a la Genser), probing power tariff proposals, highlighting IPP debt buildup etc etc. I'm afraid I've never seen Ms. Nelson amplify any of that work. Ever. Not even a retweet. Now, why is that? 🤷🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/o9absAKtLA

— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) April 23, 2024