Joshua Boye Doe, a social media influencer, popularly known as KalyJay, has cited fear that engulfed his family to the point of urging him to quit a campaign he started, as the reason behind his decision to not join a demonstration that was staged as part of the call on the government to fix the country.
In 2021, KalyJay via Twitter initiated the hashtag #FixTheCountry. This was received by many Ghanaians who craved a new society founded on justice. It consequently sparked a national conversation over the course of the country and the prospects for the future.
As the campaign gained momentum, several thousands of protesters marched on the streets of Accra on August 4, 2021, to demand accountability, and better living conditions, among others from the government.
But KalyJay, known to have founded the campaign, was missing in action. Explaining his absence, the 26-year-old said “I didn’t join because there was tension and my family members and some of my friends made me hide in the shadows for a while”.
The young man who appeared on The Delay Show aired on February 12, 2023, indicated that his decision to quit the campaign was not because he did not have the balls to finish what he started. According to him, he had to listen to his family especially when the campaign became polarized.
“It’s not about me having balls,” he said. “When I started the campaign, it was non-partisan, it was to call for change in the lives of the normal Ghanaian. Along the line, it became politicized; I realized the whole campaign was losing its motives. So, I just had to withdraw. I’m not a political person.”
Touching on how the campaign began, KalyJay said he used to tweet about football and issues that had nothing to do with politics until he realized how influential he was. Having assessed his strength and the challenges the Ghanaian people were facing coupled with the government’s posture, he decided to express himself.
“I hammered on social issues. I used my platform to talk about what ought to be changed,” he remarked. “I believe if you have the voice, you have to sometimes speak for the people who don’t have the voice. You see schools under trees, hospitals without beds… Whenever I hammered on it, it’d pick up; along the line, ‘fix the country’ was born. I started it on Twitter.”
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