on the streets

Can Ghana’s new wave of protesters force President Akufo-Addo to change course?

By Jonas Nyabor, Jaysim Hanspal

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Posted on July 11, 2022 09:58

 © Ghanaians march in the streets on the second day of protests over recent economic hardships, in Accra, Ghana, June 29, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko
Ghanaians march in the streets on the second day of protests over recent economic hardships, in Accra, Ghana, June 29, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko

Just days before President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo announced on 1 July that his finance minister, against his will, was opening negotiations with the IMF, thousands of young Ghanaians took to the streets in Accra protesting against spiralling food and fuel prices and wider cost hardships.

The huge crowd disrupted traffic along some of the city’s busiest routes, including the road leading to Jubilee House, the seat of the government.

A clash with the police on the first day of the protest left people with injuries and over two dozen arrested. The police fired tear gas, a water cannon and live rounds to disperse the protestors.

The demonstration was organised by Arise Ghana, a new pressure group that, until last month, no one had heard of.

So how did this unknown group pull off one of the biggest anti-government protests in the last five years?

Who is Arise Ghana?

According to Bernard Mornah, an activist in the People’s National Congress (PNC), the pressure group was launched in April and has strong ties with the main opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Weeks before the scheduled protest in Accra, pro-NDC social media accounts began pushing a hashtag to

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