Where is the change?

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their mind cannot change anything –George Bernard Shaw

Change is extremely worthwhile for survival. The hope for changes has kept most people alive till date-they know their situations will change.

Unfortunately, cunning politicians have taken advantage of this natural phenomenon to play on populates the mind game. They come soliciting for votes every four years and depending on which side they are (incumbent or opposition), they frame the change mechanism to convince prospective voters.

As those in opposition are using “change is coming”, those in power paint their administration as the best and that the change they promised in the previous election year have materialized. So they adopt themes like “changing lives”, “transforming Ghana” among others.

Mostly, you see “ordinary Ghanaians” following politicians around; cheering them up for their great works, when you ask them about the changes they have seen, they are not able to pinpoint any specific change. It reminds me of the MTN mobile money ad where a woman was screaming “minsa aka oo”. She was later asked where the money was, and it was nowhere to be found.

Of course change is a process, which logically stands to reason that today’s progress ideally should be a build-up and more than yesterday’s. So far in this country’s political history, numerous transitions have been made between different political parties.

They all want Ghanaians to give them the mandate to bring change. The logical question is: what did you do with the eight or so years we gave you?

You see, the success of every governance especially here in Africa is measured by how well you alleviate poverty. So to the majority of Ghanaians who have voted you into power, anything you do should directly or indirectly serve this purpose (poverty alleviation); Be it infrastructural development, improvement in educational system or even accountability and transparency.

“Rural poverty in Ghana is now almost four times as high as urban poverty compared to twice as high in the 1990s.” said Andy McKay, professor of Development Economics at the University of Sussex who delivered a public lecture here in Accra on inequality in Ghana.

Where is the transformation? All change is not growth and movement not forward- Ellen Glasgow

Clearly, Poverty has not dwindled as the politicians claim. Is causing tertiary students to go on demonstrations for you to continue paying utility bills that have been paid by the government since time immemorial or a “dumsor” that was solved and led to exponential hike in price of electricity, or the type of free education that make public senior high school students pay fees of an average of 2X the amounts paid just before the 2012/2013 academic year.

So what is the way forward? Should we even vote at all?

Everybody wants change but not everyone is willing to change. Change becomes a reality only when the one desiring it changes. I hear some die hard political party sympathizers who say they wish any of the minor political parties come into power but they are not willing to change(vote them in).

The main reason why most Ghanaians are still yearning for change that may never come is that they believe a particular political party will bring change. No! Don’t be FOOLED! The ultimate and result oriented government is self-governance.

There is no hope when the governing mandate is turned to another. Remember Adam and Eve were rulers of themselves, ancient Israel did not have a king until they wanted to be like the other countries who had rulers.

God wanted them to govern themselves. Its better late than never. To the young folks look into yourself for change, not any politician, because believe it or not, they govern themselves before considering you. No wonder we have a first family and the second and those who vote for them are the ordinary Ghanaians.