President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo

Presidential boos, democratic significance

Since September 24, 2022, when the President was reportedly booed at the Black Star Square in Accra, during his speech on the occasion of the Global Citizen Festival, there has been a lot of commentary about it.

While a majority of the commentary has focused on how negative it is for him to be booed at, there is a positive side of the issue, specifically, the significance of the ‘drama’. The boos directed at the president was a protest of his government and the current economic challenges confronting the country with galloping inflation, rising fuel prices and rising food costs.

Admittedly, the government is not oblivious of these, as it agreed to a cost of living allowance (COLA) with organised labour that was effective in July, 2022.
However, the audience at the music festival, the reaction of the President and the venue are all significant in our current democratic experience.

Youth

Undoubtedly, a majority of those that patronised the music festival were the youth. In inter-colleges and university halls competitions, opposing teams chant ‘away, away’ to unnerve colleague competitors, at entertainment and games, when bored with a particular performance.

Interestingly, this usually happens spontaneously as a characteristic of crowds. The ‘away, away’ is usually started by one or two people, and then gains traction.
At the Global Citizen Festival, there were boos and applause, showing that while some protested against the president, others appreciated him.

The significance of some booing and others applauding clearly points to the varied voices of the youth, and that must be properly deciphered and listened to, particularly when Ghana’s population by the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) is a youthful one.

We have fantastic youth policies, but no defined policy on listening to, and addressing issues raised by the voices of the youth.

Education and unemployment remain critical issues for the youth and their participation in addressing these challenges remains a challenge.

The President showed class by his reaction to both the boos and the applause. He remained calm when he was being booed at, recognising the right of citizens to protest and looked lively and cheerful when the applause was loudest.

That was significant, as we have a pluralistic society, and thus the need for accepting and respecting diverging views, opinions and expressions.

Venue

The venue of the Global Citizen Festival, the Black Star Square, is also significant. The Black Star Square celebrates Ghana’s independence and it is a symbol of emancipation.

The structure was inaugurated in 1961, coinciding with Queen Elizabeth II’s first visit to Ghana. It is actually an act of the gods that just days after the Queen was laid to rest with the whole world watching, the world gets to see the beauty of Ghanaian diversity, tolerance and democracy at play on a stage as the Black Star Square, a symbol for not just Ghanaians, but African renaissance.

It shows the world that despite our challenging democratic experience, Ghana, the Star of Africa, is committed to democracy.

What happened at the Black Star Square was not all bad as detailed by some, on the contrary, it is a mosaic of our nation, of our divergent views and opinions and of our commitment to tolerate each other in order to live peacefully together.

More importantly, on the grandest of stages, the President showed that the right to protest in Ghana was a fundamental human right as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.

The writer is with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Lambussie District, Upper West. E-mail: [email protected]

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