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Opinions of Wednesday, 27 March 2024

Columnist: Anthony Obeng Afrane

NDC 2024 victory will be on the shoulders of polling agents

NDC flag NDC flag

As we inch towards the polls in December this year, one ingredient that is going to make or unmake political parties is firm trust, and I want to talk about it.

Trust cannot be learned, purchased, or acquired. They can only be earned. And you have to do everything in your power to earn it! Your success in life hinges on this essential virtue. It can make or unmake you!

A true story is told of a popular businessman in Ghana who made it from rags to riches through trust. The man I'm talking about was an "adieyie" many years ago who went about sewing bad clothes for a fee. Striking his finger bell, he sang to attract customers:

Adieyie with his machine

I went to town to sew bad clothes

When he shouted adieyie

People start to laugh at him

When he shouted adieyie

People start to laugh at him

He went through this in the scorching sun on a daily basis. There were days that business went bad and he did not get any clothes to sew, but through it all, he never gave up. And it was one of those days that he had his breakthrough.

He was passing by the house of a white family. The children of the house were excited about the music of the adieyie and requested that he be invited to entertain them. After the invitation, the adieyie was offered the job of a houseboy, which he willingly accepted.

He served the expatriates diligently and faithfully, and when they were leaving Ghana for good, they put him in charge of their fabric shop. He met all the sales targets given to him. To cut a long story short, he was asked to pay for the shop in installments, which he did and eventually became the proud owner, and that was how the Adieyie became a multi-millionaire.

His fabric shop, which was around Cow Lane in Accra, was the biggest and most popular in the country in the 1970s and 1980s.

Trust, which is built and maintained by many small actions over time, is a major key to our success and breakthrough, and we must strive to earn it!

It is rumoured that there are plans to highly compromise some polling agents with some good cash on December 7.

But it is worth remembering that everything we think, say, and do has consequences for ourselves and others.

Like ripples on a pond, our actions spread out and affect others because everything is interconnected.

This year's elections are a rescue mission to deliver the suffering Ghanaians from further excruciating hardship. I want to remind polling agents that any action to help subvert the will of the people can be irreversible and will have dire consequences.

Let us also not forget that good deeds never go unrewarded.