Democratic Comedy and the Tales of Many Parties

: To Thee, Oh Ghana, I Cry

Are we really divided as a nation, and people? Or is our concept of division along ethnic, or party, lines a construct of imaginary ideological latitudes wired into our brains by certain ethnocentric leaders who exploit the public’s growing infantilisms as a way to extend their influence across the corridors of power in the face of cyclical non-performances? Against whom do the constant contrivances we see in our nation’s politics affect? In contemporary Ghanaian partisan politics, there are very little grey areas for plurality. There is little room for objectivity. Sadly, those who are affected, the most, by the nation’s elitist politics are ones who continue to throw their support behind their party even when reality proves that their leaders have failed them. For how long can we continue to allow the nation political hymn-singers to download their manure into our constricting throats without rejecting the asphyxiating stench of their waste? The preceding are important questions that twenty-first century Ghanaians must ask themselves.

Not a single day goes by without the nation seeing NPP loyalists hold the supporters of the opposition by the throat. Entertainingly, not an hour passes by without the incumbent government blaming the erstwhile administration for its leadership’s failures. I personally find it quite comical to listen to the supporters of the ruling administration blame the NDC government for driving the country into HIPC, when in fact, the present administration has used HIPC returns to spruce up its dead projects and take credit for them. The growing dishonesty we see in Ghanaian politics is reminiscent of Ayi Kwei Armah’s “chichidodo” bird; a feathered hypocrite that that professes to hate excreta, yet feeds on maggots, which are bi-products of the very human waste it vehemently condemns and holds its breathe against its revolting stench.

On the obverse, opposition supporters cannot be given carte-blanche over their lack of persuasion in telling the nation about their party’s pragmatic vision to replacing the status quo. What changes will an opposition administration bring to the people? What improvements will those vying for the highest political office bring into national politics which do not already exist? While I am vehemently opposed to the incumbent’s ideological shift from “zero-tolerance” to “property-owning democracy,” I cannot equally comprehend the practicality of the opposition’s campaign that it will distribute capital to the nation’s poor, when in fact we know that the generation of capital must take place before it can be distributed. What was Dan Lartey thinking when he said he was going to raise workers’ income by four hundred percent? From where was “Mr. Domestication” going to get the money to feed his unending promises to the nation’s public servants?

I say the above not as a way of showing my condescension toward our politicians, some of whom are people with integrity. However, the lack of consistency in policy projections by the nation’s presidential nominees worries me. I don’t think that God, in His infinite might, can reverse our nation’s growing afflictions if we continue to practice the politics of dependency. I don’t also think that God can convert our nation’s deepening penury into riches if our leaders fail lead by example. I don’t, in my wildest dream, think God can change Ghana into Malaysia if we continue to glamorize laziness. I laugh when I see the bumper sticker on Ghanaian-owned automobiles read “I am rich in spirit,” when, in fact, the owners of the said cars cannot even feed their children with nutritious meals. The God on whom our nation has become dependent cannot bring our two living leaders together if their supporters refuse to accept the fact that it is in the nation’s best interest to settle the differences between President Kufuor and Chairman Rawlings.

Would it hurt the credibility of the present administration to field certain opposition members in key positions to bring confidence-building into national politics? Does it make political, or strategic, sense to sideline some of the nation’s best brains because of their political affiliations with the past administration? If social demography informs the democratic appointments of government officials, what are the incentives to/for appointing one’s kinsmen, and women, to positions of power, even when the appointer knows that his appointees do not have the experience in the office to which they have been appointed? While there some who would contend that loyalty is key to the survival of a government, we cannot mortgage our nation’s development by entrusting the affairs of the state into the hands of a leadership that reels under a siege-mentality, in a century of increased openness, and sees other ethnic groups as enemies of the state.

Our nation’s politics is at its sorry state because we have willfully failed to enjoin as system of policies that selects the best based on demonstrable merits and not one’s ethnicity. In democratic Ghanaian politics, we have accepted obscure policies based on their populist appeal to the detriment of the governed. Does a party’s insignia put food on the table? Those who vote for a political party based on its colorful emblem have sold their moral convictions and instead invested their souls in political formations that thrive on fictive slogans. What a day tomorrow brings, a painful song for us to sing, as we sink with an ink on the silk and blink with a wink, in pink, to a God who knows our sins.

As a nation, the faith we invest in our corrupt politicians strikes me as being naive. Not only does the preceding present the Ghanaian public as lacking the initiative to challenge the expert deceptions of our property-grabbing politicians, it also exposes our weakness and presents the governed as objects, and not subjects with needs. Let’s bring some moral imperatives into national politics and please don’t tell me I am wrong. We are not a serious nation. Are we?

Hope all is well. Good day and cheers.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.