Saturday May 16, 2015.
A day etched in the history books of Ghana forever.
Why?
Simple. Ghanaians stood up, walked and spoke out.
After three years of living with a power crisis which has seen the Ghana Tourism Authority announce the potential shutdown of some 20 hotels within the country. Telecoms operator, MTN; UK charity for education, culture and development services, British Council; textile manufacturer, Juapong textiles have all either laid off workers or preparing to lay off workers due to the power crisis.
The government’s response has been varied, albeit dreadful.
Here are a few headlines to illustrate my point:
NPP demo has encouraged me to end ‘Dumsor’ – Mahama
I will ‘banish dumsor forever’ – Mahama
My ‘dumsor banishment’ promise was just a prayer- Mahama
Gov’t resolute to end ‘Dumsor’ – Mahama
‘Dumsor’ will erode government’s good initiatives – Mahama
The commentary and public outcry has been immense across social media with dozens of memes and every trolling effort in the book being tried out. Government officials also weighed into the conversation from time to time and did what all employees do; defend their employer.
Then Yvonne Nelson, award winning actress, philanthropist and all-round nice person spoke out on the power crisis with a simple tweet: #dumsormuststop.
The aftermath of that tweet has been a complex mix of support, insults, emotional outbursts and career defining decisions. It has gotten politicians such as Alhaji Halidu Haruna to learn the grave effects of taking social media for granted and shot others such as Yvonne Nelson into legendary status.
The #dumsormuststop vigil which took place on Saturday showed just how much can be done when citizens of a country decide on their own free will and with the guidance of one purpose, to speak out about something.
I am terribly proud of my country men and women who showed up and to them i dedicate this video below.