In the wake of the National Patriotic Party (NPP) delegates’ congress to choose representative of the party in various levels of representation in Tamale, the city has been agog with activities. The first noticeable thing is that all the party offices in various parts of the city are open bright and early in the morning with the sale of party paraphernalia openly displayed.
Meanwhile at night whilst most of the city sleeps, party contestant faithful post bills and posters of their candidates all over the city. It is so easy to see how rich the potential candidate is by just looking at the size of their banner or the number of posters put within a certain radius.
From the town centre all the way on one of the high streets past the market and a few banks and a filling station, every wall and every tree available is pockmarked with party posters.
It is evident that people have started arriving in town in droves from all over the country to attend the congress and on the day of the congress it is estimated that more than ten thousand people will be in the Tamale metropolis.
Well I won’t delve into the security, business and environmental considerations of this influx of people into the city. My concern is of the event itself – the political ramifications.
Even with that I will not delve into the real political debate of the flagbearership or who gets the nod to represent which group or faction. My main focus is on the politics of Ghana.
It is high time the people of Ghana recognize that politicians are very selfish people on the whole and we wake up to the fact that it is the plebiscites that vote them into whatever position they are.
Furthermore the offices they hold are not personalized offices but then they are public offices entrusted to them by the public and so the public should hold them accountable for what happen during their tenure of office.
With the elephant congress coming up, I realize that to be able even to enter into office in government (if your government is in power) it is the congress that makes the choice. The delegates from the various constituencies are important cogs in the wheel of our democratic process yet what do we see.
These delegates see the time for congress as their proverbial ‘cocoa season’ to milk candidates who canvass not only for their support but also their votes. How pathetic can we get as a country when this happens even on the large scale during national democratic elections?
Every four years you sell your conscience and hardship especially for material gain that will not even last a year. Let me further make fun of this incident.
You are given a lump sum of a Gh1000 to buy your vote but when whoever gave you that money is put in power, person makes Gh7000 every month – not to mention allowances and kickbacks. He is given free fuel and housing allowance worth another Gh3000 per month and he has medical insurance for his family and even girlfriends.
Meanwhile, fuel prices for you keeps going up every month, electricity in your home is a farce, water has never run through your taps, health insurance is a bigger farce so how long is the Gh1000 you were given going to last?
Now Go Figure!
Politics in Ghana is so lopsided we are even blind to see. Why is it that it is now a two horse race between the National Democratic Party and the National Patriotic Party? Is it just me or nobody has noticed the names of the parties. What is democratic or patriotic about the people that make up the party when they only get into power to get fat and line their fat bellies.
That is not to say that some of these politicians are not democratic or patriotic. In every case there are a few good men.
Why is it the members of parliament will debate and issue and when it comes to the general good of Ghana as a whole there is vehement opposition to one thing or the other but when issues such as allowances, salaries are increased and backdated, allowances, etc which obviously benefits them personally, there is no debate. It is a straight shoo in.
Why is it that when there is a change in political party, civil society grinds to a halt for a few months because there is no government machinery to drive it. Is it the same everywhere? Or only in Africa where party loyalists are always the ones in charge of running civil institutions.
And they have the interests of the nation at heart indeed. Not especially when the complaint is that most of the government revenue goes into paying public officials. What utopia!
But can we blame anybody for the state of affairs of the nation when we are a very gullible nation. A nation where politicians will argue over issues on national media (radio or television), get their supporters worked up and hanging by their every word as gospel whilst they finish whatever debate and holding hands and clapping each other on the back, go off to have brunch and a few bottles of whisky.
A hard day’s work indeed.
With this elephant congress coming up, it has set this my dysfunctional mind into thinking mode (quite unpleasantly) that it is high time the plebiscite realized that it doesn’t matter which party a politician belongs to, once he is given a government appointment, he is a public servant and accountable to who put him there in the first place. It is important to have a clear conscience whilst putting him there so that he can be held accountable for his actions and of course as is so characteristic of this nation, his inactions.
In all other congresses, the issues that are raised should be taken seriously by all of us Ghanaians. We should not say that because we do not belong to a certain political party we won’t listen to what they have to say. Pay attention to the party’s vision for the country (hey, we have examples where a party claimed its vision was said to be impossible but the vision stolen as a new vision for the opposing party) and check for viability with what you know about the economy.
Doesn’t anybody find it funny that at the end of the day what party you vote for is supposed to be between you and God (and the witch doctor’s pot) so that courting support for a party is just a way of making extra bucks for your pocket thus selling your conscience? So why go through the hassle anyway.
I have said my piece and l certainly still believe in Ghana. This is my motherland indeed.
Ghana must work.
Like I always say it begins with YOU!
kofilarbi 