UCAN: Yes, You Can; We Can

UCAN: Yes, You Can; We Can Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from UCAN: Yes, You Can; We Can, Nonprofit Organization, Accra.

A political/civic network working to restore power to the people by fixing Ghana's long, broken politics and democratic dysfunctionโ€”first rallying behind constitutional and institutional reforms that check elite-capture.

01/01/2026

"Never forget this: The forces undermining our democracy, rigging our economy, polluting our planet, and stoking hatred are counting on you to give up. Cynicism is how they win. We must keep fighting in 2026 and beyond." โ€” Robert B. Reich

Happy 2026!

Every generation needs its own leaders, as David Cameron rightly declared emphatically, saying, "We're in a very differe...
21/12/2025

Every generation needs its own leaders, as David Cameron rightly declared emphatically, saying, "We're in a very different era now. The style then was right for then, and a new style is needed for now." Our generation is struggling with principled leadership in the public and political spheres. During our independence movement, the courageous and visionary leaders surrendered themselves selflessly in service of the nationโ€”aiming to realise their idea of a prosperous Ghana.

During the Ghanaian independence movement, our founding fathers and mothers gifted the country an independent future. A future envisioned for a democratic ideal towards the common good.
Yet, seven decades later, our democracy is working not for all, but only a privileged few.

As we reflect, one of the many reasons is the scarcity of principled leadership in public service. Today, Ghana needs its best hearts and heads to serve and support them for the huge challenges that lie ahead of us.

Join us in building a system that truly represents us; one that works for us and is held accountable by us when it doesnโ€™t.

14/12/2025

๐—š๐—›๐—”๐—ก๐—”'๐—ฆ ๐—ก๐—”๐—ง๐—œ๐—ข๐—ก๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—œ๐—ก ๐—™๐—ข๐—–๐—จ๐—ฆ

๐‹๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐ˆ๐’

Over the past decade (๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฎโ€“๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ), Ghana created only ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฌ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ jobs compared to its working-age population growth of ๐Ÿฎ.๐Ÿณ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป within this same period, with only ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘% ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก-๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ฃ๐จ๐›๐ฌ. Yet every year, about ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ด ๐—š๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ enter the job market, with fewer than ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ% (๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ) securing formal employment in the public or private sectors as ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿณ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ public-sector jobs are available.

Source: ๐‘พ๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’‚๐’๐’Œ ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฌ๐‘ผ9/๐‘ท๐‘ต25, ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฌ๐‘น, ๐‘ด๐‘ณ๐‘ฌ๐‘ฑ, ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฌ๐‘บ๐‘น, ๐‘ฎ๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘ช, ๐‘ฎ๐‘บ๐‘บ ๐‘ณ๐‘ฌ๐‘บ23, ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฐ๐‘ท๐‘ช

๐‚๐Ž๐‘๐‘๐”๐๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐

Then thereโ€™s corruption draining over ๐—จ๐—ฆ$๐Ÿฑ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป annually from our national purse: monies that should go into training, tools, creating decent jobs, building a strong healthcare system, road network, and securing our borders stolen through ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ฑ, ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€, ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜… ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€, ๐—ด๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐˜๐˜€.

Source: ๐‘พ๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’‚๐’๐’Œ, ๐‘จ๐’–๐’…๐’Š๐’•๐’๐’“-๐‘ฎ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’'๐’” ๐‘จ๐‘น๐’”, ๐‘ช๐‘ฏ๐‘น๐‘จ๐‘ฑ, ๐‘ฐ๐‘ด๐‘ญ

๐’๐„๐‚๐”๐‘๐ˆ๐“๐˜ & ๐‰๐”๐’๐“๐ˆ๐‚๐„ ๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„๐’

Insecurity and judicial crises also exact a heavy toll: with ๐Ÿ–๐ŸŽ% of all ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐š๐ฌ๐ž-๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ž๐ฌ remaining unresolved and over ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Š ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ, Ghana recorded an average of ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฑ ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—ป-๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ annually over the past decade (๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฑโ€“๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ). At the same time, the country has identified ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿต ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€โ€”only ๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿด officially gazetted and manned, while ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿญ remain unofficial or informal, exploited by smugglers, irregular migrants, and ๐˜€๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ด๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€, ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ด๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€.

Source: ๐‘ฎ๐‘ท๐‘บ ๐‘ช๐’“๐’Š๐’Ž๐’† ๐‘บ๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’”, ๐‘ฑ๐’–๐’…๐’Š๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘บ๐’†๐’“๐’—๐’Š๐’„๐’† ๐‘จ๐‘บ๐‘น, ๐‘ด๐‘ถ๐‘ฐ, ๐‘ต๐‘จ๐‘ช๐‘บ๐‘จ, ๐‘ฎ๐’‰๐‘ฉ๐‘ช/๐‘ฎ๐‘บ๐‘บโ€“๐‘ฐ๐‘ช๐‘ฉ๐‘ป'22, ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ/๐‘ฐ๐‘ถ๐‘ด/๐‘ผ๐‘ต๐‘ต๐‘ด, ๐‘ฐ๐‘ท๐‘ท๐‘ช, ๐‘ต๐‘บ, ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฐโ€“๐‘ป๐‘ถ๐‘ช.

๐„๐‚๐Ž๐‹๐Ž๐†๐ˆ๐‚๐€๐‹ ๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐ˆ๐’

And in our natural environment, the destruction rages on. ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ,๐Ÿด๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ต๐—ฎ of our forests equivalent to the land size of ๐—ž๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ถ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ, with ๐Ÿด๐—  people lacking access to safe, drinkable water; and ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฌ% of our freshwater sources poisoned with heavy metals.

Source: ๐‘พ๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’“๐‘จ๐’Š๐’…/๐‘ป๐’“๐’†๐’†๐‘จ๐’Š๐’…, ๐‘ญ๐‘ช, ๐‘พ๐‘น๐‘ช, ๐‘ช๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘น-๐‘พ๐‘น๐‘ฐ, ๐‘ฌ๐‘ท๐‘จ, ๐‘ฎ๐‘พ๐‘ช๐‘ณ, ๐‘ฎ๐‘บ๐‘บ ๐‘ญ๐‘ซ๐‘ฌ๐‘บ

๐‘๐Ž๐€๐ƒ ๐€๐‚๐‚๐ˆ๐ƒ๐„๐๐“๐’

While on our roads, the danger never stops.
Accidents claim thousands of lives ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ: ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฒ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ,๐Ÿต๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฎ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ต๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ.

Source: ๐‘ต๐‘น๐‘บ๐‘จ, ๐‘ด๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ซ


๐๐Ž๐•๐„๐‘๐“๐˜ & ๐‡๐Ž๐”๐’๐ˆ๐๐† ๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐ˆ๐’

On the poverty and housing front, the stark data beg for intervention:

โ€ข๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ.๐Ÿฎ% ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿด๐—  Ghanaians live below the poverty line
โ€ข๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ.๐Ÿญ% ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฒ.๐Ÿฒ๐—  at risk of poverty
โ€ข๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ.๐Ÿฎ% = ๐Ÿณ.๐Ÿต๐—  persons aged 6+ lacking basic literacy.
โ€ข๐Ÿฎ๐—  housing deficit with an ๐Ÿด๐—  urban population residing in slums
โ€ข๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฏ.๐Ÿฏ๐—  Ghanaians are food-insecure โ€” ๐Ÿฎ๐—  ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ

Source: ๐‘ญ๐‘จ๐‘ถ, ๐‘พ๐‘ฉ ๐‘ฎ๐‘ท๐‘จ, ๐‘ต๐‘ซ๐‘ท๐‘ช ๐‘จ๐‘ท๐‘น๐’”, ๐‘ผ๐‘ต๐‘ฐ๐‘ช๐‘ฌ๐‘ญ ๐‘ฎ๐‘ท๐‘ฐ๐‘น, ๐‘ถ๐‘ฟ๐‘ญ๐‘จ๐‘ด, ๐‘ถ๐‘ท๐‘ฏ๐‘ฐ/๐‘ผ๐‘ต๐‘ซ๐‘ท, ๐‘ฎ๐‘บ๐‘บ ๐‘ฎ๐‘ณ๐‘บ๐‘บ/๐‘ท๐‘ฏ๐‘ช21/๐‘จ๐‘ฏ๐‘ฐ๐‘ฌ๐‘บ/๐‘ด๐‘ท๐‘ฐ

These are not statistics; they are the stark realities facing every ordinary Ghanaianโ€”they affect us all, including YOU.

๐—๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐˜†๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜‚๐˜€; ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ปโ€™๐˜.

19/11/2025

As Jeffrey Birnbaum, author of The Money Men, writes:

"At the same time, we have more cause than ever to care about the influence of money on politics. The reason is that our system of government is steadily falling apart. Fewer and fewer people vote, yet more and more money is drenching the electoral and legislative process."

The political system continues to languish in a voting and confidence recession.

In contrast, there is one political indicator that is up: money. And it is way, way up.

Our power is captured by the few 1% who have bought our politics, and it's time to change its direction.

If we stop the money, we'll stop the crooks and their big money sponsors from taking over our politics and governments.

The NDC-NPP Cartel Money Politics have Captured and Outsourced our Power to International and Corporate Donors, Lobbyists, and Individual Wealthy Financiers; It's Time to Change the Course.

How? The WeSolution: UCAN is grounded in a 4โ€”O political accountability approach for prospective candidates who seek elective public offices through its platform, which is:

1. Open Declaration, Verification, and Explanation for how Assets were acquired.

2. Open Vetting and Public Debates

3. Open Primaries to all prospective grassroots activists, with canvassing and funding for successful candidates through a mass-funding system.

4. Open prosecution of political and public corruption and related offences.

This is how we get to build political will into our politics and governance when it's done on our own terms against the politician's.

And no time does Robert La Follette's words resonate more in our sorry state of affairs than now: "The battle is just on. It is young yet. It will be the longest and hardest ever fought for Democracy. In other lands, the people have lost. Here we shall win. It is a glorious privilege to live in this time, and have a free hand in this fight for government by the people."

Join us NOW. Let's build a System that Truly Represents Usโ€”one that Works for Us, and is Held Accountable by Us when it Doesnโ€™t.

17/11/2025

United Citizens for Accountability Network (UCAN): Building a System that Truly Represents Usโ€”one that Works for Us, and is Held Accountable by Us when it Doesnโ€™t.

UCAN is a grassroots political and civic network mobilising youth with a sense of civic agency to fix Ghana's broken politics and democratic governance, marked by decades of money politics, official corruption, insecurity, selective accountability, weakened State institutions, low public trust, inequality, and underdeveloped HR โ€” to name a few.

And there lies the key message: there's none of us, ordinary Ghanaians, to whom this growing crisis doesn't belong; we are the ones most affected by same, and we have no option but to get involved or perish together because none of us is as smart as all of us to save the day.

Therefore, in response to this urgency to disrupt the governance proceeds of the two-party doom cycle, and to secure Ghana's future for the common good, UCAN is grounded in a 4โ€”O political accountability approach for prospective candidates who seek elective public offices through its platform, which is:

1. Open Declaration, Verification, and Explanation for how Assets were acquired.

2. Open Vetting and Public Debates

3. Open Primaries to all prospective grassroots activists, with canvassing and funding for successful candidates through a mass-funding system.

4. Open prosecution of political and public corruption and related offences.

This is how we get to build political will into our politics and governance when it's done on our own terms against the politicians'.

Join us NOW!

The foundational centrality of political parties in modern representative democracy has been widely recognised across mo...
01/11/2025

The foundational centrality of political parties in modern representative democracy has been widely recognised across most established liberal democratic countries globally, as underscored by the staple quote from the great E. E. Schattschneider, "Modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties."

However, as largely observed, and Peter Mair emphasised, cartel parties have hollowed out this very democracy: "Although the parties themselves remain, they have become so disconnected from the wider society, and pursue a form of competition that is so lacking in meaning, that they no longer seem capable of sustaining democracy in its present form.โ€

Increasingly, our contemporary traditional parties operate less as genuine representatives of the people and more as self-serving cartels. They have become primarily office-seeking organisations that trade representational integrity for electoral winsโ€”focused on self-preservation, resource accumulation, and the co-optation of media and state institutions into their power structures. Through patronage, resource control, and the erosion of real policy competition, they have shifted from being โ€œsocial actorsโ€ to โ€œstate actors,โ€ embedding themselves as part of the machinery of the state.

Kofi Annan's call to civic agency cannot therefore be lost on us at this crucial moment against the traditional political machines' cartel politics: a cosy corruption enterprise, a relic of feudalism sustained on patronage and competitive clientelismโ€”directing public resources towards party-political ends driven by short-term thinking.

Join us NOW. Letโ€™s build a system that truly represents usโ€”one that works for us, and one that is held accountable by us when it doesnโ€™t. โš–๏ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ญ


"There are reasons, and good reasons, to be disillusioned, but not to give up on a broken system. What I'm pushing back ...
31/08/2025

"There are reasons, and good reasons, to be disillusioned, but not to give up on a broken system. What I'm pushing back against is that second stepโ€”the idea that it will always be this way. It doesn't have to be this way, and that is the key step." โ€” James Dell, TX state rep.

James Dell is right: The people deserve a system where transparency and accountability are neither optional nor selective, and decisions are based on national interest rather than bottom lines.

Join us in building a united citizen movement to take power back to the people.

"Politics is not and cannot be a spectator sport; it is not just about who wins and who loses. It is about being activel...
18/08/2025

"Politics is not and cannot be a spectator sport; it is not just about who wins and who loses. It is about being actively engaged in the political process and having a say in the decisions that are made on one's behalf" โ€” Jeffery Bertram

Jeffrey Bertram clearly observed: For many, politics has become a spectator sportโ€”something to indulge in to cheer their team on for the bragging rights.

Yes, politics is not a team sport; It is the serious duty of citizens to choose the nationโ€™s lead human labour power โ€” the skills and knowledge capable of organising and managing its means of production (tools, technology, infrastructure, natural resources) โ€” to drive economic and social development. Thus, this demands that citizens think long-term, actively participate in primaries and general elections, and share the cost, rather than deferring this ultimate responsibility to accepting empty gestures of representation.

Join us NOW. Let's build a system that truly represents usโ€”one that works for us and is held accountable by us when it doesnโ€™t. โš–๏ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ญ

05/08/2025

While we remain divided, partisan political elites are rigging the rules of accountability, enriching themselves and their cronies.

This is not how our government by the people is supposed to work. We pay for this system. It should work for us, not just the rich and powerful.

We are therefore bridging the divide by building a united citizen movement to return power to the peopleโ€”join us.

The People vs. The Power Grab: A united citizen movement to build a system that truly represents usโ€”one that works for u...
04/08/2025

The People vs. The Power Grab: A united citizen movement to build a system that truly represents usโ€”one that works for us and is held accountable by us when it doesnโ€™t.

The biggest divide in our politics is not left vs. right โ€” itโ€™s top vs. bottom: predatory partisan elites and rent-seekers vs. the people.

Predatory partisan elites have divided us because our unity threatens their informal state they maintain with our formal institutions.

We're therefore bridging the divide by building a united citizen network to return power to the People.

The time has come to hold our governments accountableโ€”join us.

If this is our democracyโ€“a true democracyโ€“it should serve all of us, not just a privileged few and those connected to th...
02/08/2025

If this is our democracyโ€“a true democracyโ€“it should serve all of us, not just a privileged few and those connected to their informal networks.

"Politics has become a religion, and this is one way it does soโ€”people put all their faith in a politician. But if there is any hope I can give to people, it is that partisan elites, together with their informal networks, are very afraid of the power that the people haveโ€”that I know for sure." โ€” James Dell.

JamesDell is right: we are the ones who have the power to change things, not some "saviour" candidate. Partisan politicians won't fix our system; we have to.

Join us in building a united citizen movement to take power back to the people.

#

Address

Accra

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when UCAN: Yes, You Can; We Can posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Share