On Thursday, September 21, 2023, a protest aimed to demand accountability, protest against the high cost of living, leadership failure in resolving economic challenges, poor road infrastructure (#FixTheMotorWay), galamsey, corruption, and greed dubbed #OccupyJulorbiHouse was organised in Ghana by the Democracy Hub.
Unfortunately, the protest was met with police brutality, even though the right to assemble and protest is protected by law. Unarmed and impassioned Ghanaians who had gathered at the 37 Trotro station earlier Thursday morning were arrested and allegedly beaten up by the police.
The incident sparked outrage on Twitter (now X), which coincidentally happened to be a national memorial holiday for Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
A number of Ghanaian celebrities have added their voices to the calls for the release of the protestors following their arrest during the demonstration.
Below are some of the Ghanaian celebrities who have reacted to the protest.
Stonebwoy also tweeted/posted several hours later in a much longer tweet than Sarkodie’s. But the tweet lacked any originality and stank highly of a hurriedly hired PR agent’s writing or perhaps a ChatGPT generative response copied and pasted in X. Very impersonal and also he refrained from using the official protest hashtag. What on earth is #AfricanSystem ? What does it have to do with the current protest and what it stands for? Chaley 😩
Then comes Gyakie the songstress who also tweeted at 6:31pm a ‘supportive’ vague post which many of her followers rubbished off. Also she kept out the protest hashtag. Noted.
Amaarae also tweeted out her support and shared how she just got news of the protest at 8:23pm. She asked her team to send some cash to the organisers of the protest for those who have been currently jailed. This post was more personal than a PR stunt as compared to other celebrity accounts.
KiDi Music tweeted later in the afternoon a personal post on making an effort to help detained protesters. His followers had mixed reactions which sparred between appreciation and calling out the late post if not for the bashing they were getting on the X app.
Yvonne Nelson’s X account didn’t have any posts regarding today’s protest although she’s tweeted her displeasure and disappointment in the current government on a few occasions.
Shatta Wale’s Twitter account was laden with insults to whoever he’s livid with a two tweets shouting at his followers.
Meanwhile, the Terminator man King Promise finally posted something with many exclamation marks in a bid to be on the ‘safe’ side with the protest. This move stank so badly with his followers. His lack of using the protest hashtag was so obvious as well.
Black Sheriff’s post at 5:56pm (also an afterthought) shared his mind on how Ghanaian leaders must give accountability to Ghanaians for monies collected from the United Nations agencies.
