#FixTheCountry campaign lacks specifics – Showbiz critic

Popular radio presenter and showbiz critic Vida Adutwumwaa Boateng has expressed a dissenting view about the #FixTheCountry campaign, saying it should be based on specifics.

She was a guest on Simply Showbiz on TV3, hosted by Dr Supremo on Saturday, May 8.

Ms Boateng’s view comes on the back of the influence of celebrities on social activism such as has been witnessed recently with the #FixTheCountry campaign on Twitter, spearheaded by some celebrities in the country.

She said: “I think this #FixTheCountry protest lacks specifics because I have heard people talk about ‘Dumsor’, rent issues, bad roads but where are the roads? With rent, which area are you talking about? We don’t have specifics, it’s too general.

“I have seen bloggers come up with posts asking us: what do you want the government to fix? And people come up with issues beneath the posts. Tracing all these things on social media will be quite cumbersome, so my advice to the government will be that, now the information minister just mentioned that there is an office for reporting against abused journalists, so let’s have #FixTheCountry Complaint Center fixed there.

“Then you can walk in and tell the people there about your complaints and they will divide them into districts, constituencies and regions and then they will push it further but if you throw it out on the internet with no specifics, it becomes very difficult for the government to you know, address your needs at the very basic level.

“So we will plead with them, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, if he is watching, we need #FixTheCountry Complaint Center, if you are able to set up an office for journalists who are abused, I’m sure you can set up an office for this too. So that we can push specifics and then push it to the assemblies, there are various assemblies across the country, most of them are not even busy, this will get them busy.”

For his part, media maven Ricky Tennyson disagreed with the assertion by saying “every campaign begins with something and that’s exactly what this started with, you know by someone identifying a particular problem. I know the guys who started this, I think it had to do with the hike in fuel prices and then I think a few other things. I think it was some two or three other things, I think like ‘Dumsor’ and something else, three things were the main causes that started this whole movement. And others also took advantage to begin to spell out or begin to mention or identify other issues too, and that made it broad.



“That they are not saying fix ‘Dumsor’, they are saying fix the country, so everything else that has to do with the country, everybody will come calling, you know. A lot of people or celebrities will like to jump on this because sometimes it reduces their legal risks and after Akuapem Poloo’s issue, these are also part of it, you know playing specific roles, maybe donations, going out there to donate, championing causes like this. If it is ethically right, practices like this, sometimes it aids you when you find yourself in trouble and you are brought before the law, sometimes these opportunities or these things you do as part of career advancement could help you.”