Unless We (Ghanaians) Change Our Political Mentality And Move Away From Fixed Party Allegiances

One of the most serious political problems that inhibit meaningful democracy, and retard effective national development is the tendency for voters to have fixed political allegiances. Here in Ghana nearly half of the electorate votes NDC, while nearly the remaining half votes NPP. This trend has made the country’s economic progress over-dependent on the ding-dong battle that always goes on between these two major parties, forcing the rest of us to be caught in the middle, like kids who watch their parents fight while they themselves have no idea as to what to do. If two dominant parties in a country are both good and trust-worthy, then that nation should not have any worry about choosing either party. If also one of the two dominant parties is better and more trust-worthy than the other, then the choice becomes easy. Where however both parties are hopeless, the country concerned is in danger. In Ghana, the fact is that the nation has not chalked any laudable and enduring progress from the alternating administrations of the two dominant parties that have formed all governments in this country since Jerry John Rawlings handed military power to a civilian government led by himself in January 1993.

With Ghana’s economic track record since 1993 having been in such shambles, why on earth should Ghanaian voters not open their eyes more widely and think more deeply before they decide to allow themselves to be blown by the “same-same” winds that have blown them off course in all past elections in Ghana since the inception of the Fourth Republic, even though Ghanaians have the option of other alternatives? The answer to this question is that we (Ghanaians) do not change our voting patterns, because of our fixed political allegiances. We vote with our hearts, and not with our minds. This means that the two parties that have dominated politics in Ghana since 1992 will be the same parties that will be voted into power in all future elections, despite the pain Ghanaians go through every day, and also despite the existence of alternative parties. Why do we (Ghanaians) always want to hang “corruption ropes” around our necks to hang ourselves and our nation, when we have the option of avoiding self-destruction?

Albert Einstein, the renowned German physicist, challenged the logic of “doing the same thing over and over again, and always expecting a different result, [when we ought to know that that can never happen]”. He argued that, as human beings, we must change the way we do things, if the old way of doing things in the past failed to give the results we desired and still desire. Ghana attained independence around the same time Malaysia got its independence. This notwithstanding, this “Asian Tiger” has far outpaced Ghana in economic development, despite the fact that Ghana, at the time of independence, was considered a rich country by African and other third-world standard. We had, and still have vast natural resources waiting to be tapped.

Past Ghanaian coup makers always cited suffering, caused by corruption and bad leadership, as the underlying reason for their coups. By January 2013, the Fourth Republic shall have entered its twenty-first year of existence. Ghana would have been seen as an adult, if it was a human being. Yet, this country is repetitively changing one bad government led by one bad leader, and replacing it with another bad government led by another bad leader, as if we (Ghanaians) have no sense of recollection.

DO WE NEED ALBERT EINSTEIN TO TELL US THAT NOTHING WILL CHANGE FOR BETTER, IF GHANAIANS CONTINUE UNCEASINGLY TO VOTE FOR TWO PARTIES THAT HAVE MADE CORRUPTION IN GHANA WORSE FROM YEAR TO YEAR SINCE 1993?

Let Ghanaians use the coming December elections to change the way we do politics in the country. We should now vote with our minds, and not with our hearts, or with our stomachs. We should also refuse to accept the philosophy that “voting for a third party in Ghana is wasting one’s vote”. This philosophy only helps to preserve corruption in Ghana. We (Ghanaians) therefore need to disentangle our minds and our “thumbs” from this political antithesis and other forms of negative political inertia that compel us to maintain our old voting patterns, and begin to intensively PROBE THE TWO DOMINANT PARTIES AND THEIR LEADERS.

We should ask President Mahama who has been part of the Mills/Mahama fours administration from January 2008 until now, for example: (1) What it is that he can do for Ghana which he and his predecessor (ex-President Mills) were not mandated to do in the four years they were voted to lead the country since January 2008? (2) Why does he keep quiet when serious corruption allegations are made against any NDC member? (3) Why has the NDC not ordered probes into all the various allegations made against its members? (4) Why did he (President Mahama) not say anything about the bribery allegation made against him and other NDC members concerning the abortive STX Housing Deal?

Ghanaians should also ask Nana Akufo Addo: (1) What is it that he and his NPP can do for Ghanaians now, which Kufuor’s NPP Government of which he was part for eight years was not mandated by Ghanaians from January 2000 to December 2008? (2) What did Akufo Addo know about the Vodafone bribery allegation made by an NPP MP against some of his fellow NPP members in Parliament at the time of the sale of Ghana Telecom? (3) Even though Nana claims that he did not purchase any of the Government lands the NPP administration diversified and sold to its members at below-market values, and given that he himself did not benefit from what could be described as morally wrong acquisitions, did he (Nana Akufo Addo) know about those purchases? (4)If he knew about those morally wrong land purchases, what did he tell President Kufuor and those NPP members who were involved?

December 7th 2012 is a new opportunity for Ghanaians to change the fixed voting mentality and voting patterns in Ghana. Let us vote for leaders who are financially incorruptible, morally upright, and politically strong. It is time for us to vote wisely, so as to secure our children’s future. Time, like tide, waits for no man.

Source: Otchere Darko