Presidential Race Slime and Democracy in Ghana.

With just about three months until the presidential elections in Ghana, smear merchants on all sides of the parties vying for the presidency continue to run wild, with the NPP having the edge due to its incumbency.

The electorate is being bombarded, confused and deceived by these self centered political junkies, the worst purveyors of this vile brew being the government in power who convinced Ghanaians four years ago that they will uphold the tenets of democracy in our dear country!

Although this is nothing new for the Ghanaian, what?s changed is the machinery that delivers the slander on their opponents. All through our history, character assassins from political parties have surfaced to attack anyone daring enough to run for the highest office in the land. The freedom to screech your opponents extends all the way back to the pre and post colonial era. Mention them, the UGCC, UP, CPP, UNC, PP etc. have all run over the cliff with exaggerations and blatant lies about their opponents. Kwame Nkrumah, the first prime minister of the Republic of Ghana, was called an atheist, anarchist, demagogue, power drunk, ?Kankan Nyame? worshiper and even portrayed as human blood drunker! Nkrumah?s propaganda machine shouts back at his opponents by labeling them as egoistical, erratic, eccentric, jealous natured and people without vision.

The same tactics or worst are in play today and Ghanaians may be deceived again to choose the candidate that peddles the most lies on his opponents; that causes me a great concern.

It?s now clear that we as a people have learned little over the years. The dirt these greedy and selfish so called politicians spray on each other stays eerily similar throughout the ages, whether it is a military government or the so called civilian regimes. The perpetrators of these acts are just the same because somehow they have all benefited from dictatorship, military or civilian governments. A case in point is this present president, JA Kufour, who was a member of Rawlings? military junta government. It is therefore of no wonder that after touting Ghanaians with positive change as a candidate, president Kufour has landed the country into the worst shape economically and Ghanaians more divided in tribal lines than ever before.

The killing of Ya Na Yakubu Andani, the arrest and jail of young girls selling food at Sogakope, the arrest and jail of a peaceful citizen in Kumasi,whose only crime was that he had the courage, like all free people should enjoy, to question Kufour?s unnecessary numerous travels abroad, the beating and illegal detention of a house helper of Kufours minister of interior are all happening under the gleeful watch of a man who came to power to protect Ghanaians and uphold our youthful democracy!

Majority of board positions in key industries have been handed down to people from president Kufuor?s tribe. The Asantehene, is unceremoniously being paraded as the King of Ghana by his brother in the castle! As soon as Kufour came to power, Asanteman was awarded gifts in thousands of dollars by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from a common fund from which the country was given a loan. Asantehene?s effigy appears on Ghana telecom phone cards etc.! Ghanaians have never witnessed a government that is so biased, nepotic and unashamedly pays tribute to its kinsmen than the Kufour regime.

Amidst all these, Kufour and his mudslingers are parading FM, Radio and TV Stations telling us about what he will do in the next four years!

When Kufour first took office, he amongst other things ?awarded? $25, 00.00 to his cheer leaders in parliament, deceived Ghanaians into believing that he will not live in the castle so huge state resources were used to renovate his personal home and the streets around his house! He increased his perdiem from $500.00 to $3000.00 within three years,one wonders how much Kufour would have given himself if he were Rawling, the man he replaced, who stayed in office for twenty or more years!

Most of the presidents? ministers, party functionaries and cronies have become rich overnight whilst the poor Ghanaian cannot afford to feed himself and his family three square meals a day! Hospitals do not have medicines, the roads are now worst than JAK took office, school fees kept sky rocketing in the midst of unavailability of text books, his ministers continue to travel outside the country for medical treatments and joyous vacations at a hefty cost to the poor citizens! Kufours Ala Adjetey an old crook political crook, spent over two hundred and forty thousand dollars within a year. Some of us do understand why the song goes ?we no go sit down make them cheat us everyday!? . We will use our power at the ballot box to achieve that, come December this year!

It is strange to note that the perverts of democracy are declaring themselves champions of its course!

I fault dishonest and hungry journalists, union and opinion leaders in our country, who put their selfish interest above our collective survival, by conniving and eventually participating in the fleecing of our economy.

Ghana needs truly independent journalists, judicial system, union and opinion leaders and strong student advocate leadership to protect the right of the people. By bending our morals for these crooks, we are creating our future doom!

I pray that the wind of change that blew Kufour and his bunch of fleas into the corridors of power should blow them away, as fast as they came. Sadly, if they loose power, they will tuck their tails between their legs and run away from the country before justice is served on them!

We will be waiting at Kotoka, Dormaa Ahenkro, Aflao and all the boarder points at the close of elections in December, just to make sure everybody stays put!

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