The 2008 presidential election has come and gone alright, but so has my marriage! I am an Ewe man who’d been married to Adjoa, a beautiful, ebony-skinned Ashanti woman, the last seventeen years, only to see our love destroyed by the recent NDC and NPP political wars in Ghana. While I’d been a staunch NDC supporter over the years, my wife had been an NPP supporter, which constantly created difficult political conversations in our home. Even our three beautiful daughters detest Mom and Dad’s destructive political arguments and fights.

The cumulative effects of our fights exploded in our faces, however, after Mr. Nana Akufo-Addo was unable to win the presidential election at the first go in early December 2008. Suddenly, our arguments intensified, with my dear wife calling me all sorts of names, and I, aggrieved by the lack of respect for me, lunged at her but eventually held back from hitting her (911 phone calls can be very, very bad for black men in the U.S.A.)! Frightened, my wife left the house that day to a so-called friend’s place, and all of my entreaties since then to bring her back home have been fruitless. I am very discouraged because I do not want my marriage of seventeen years to go up in smoke just because some arrogant and power-drunk politicians in Ghana wanted to become president by all means necessary!

Things actually got worse between us when Dr. John Mills won the second round of the presidential election, with my wife claiming that my people could have won the election for Mr. Akufo-Addo, but failed to once again clear the air about why they vote in large numbers for a certain political party only. Even though I told her that it was wrong to stereotype a whole group the way she did, I was not able to break the impasse between us. I wake up every morning angry over Ghanaian politics, especially Mr. Nana “Ask the women how virile I am” Akufo-Addo’s NPP, since that is the party that my estranged wife supports, which is also the cause of our separation.

Perhaps Dr. John “Mr. Rawlings, I will consult you for advice twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week” Mills may want to compensate me for my marital loss, although money cannot replace the emotional connection I had with my wife, which has now gone up in the air. Is it possible to sue the NDC for reparation, since the party’s victory is partially responsible for my marital problems? I am just praying that another man does not steal my wife’s heart before I am able to win her back, because I cannot imagine seeing my gorgeous Ashanti lady with another man who does not know how hard my wife and I had toiled the last seventeen years! The thought of such a thing even kills me already!

I am now planning to go and campaign for the NPP, so the party can win in 2012. Hopefully, my wife will no longer say that all of my people are against her own people’s party, the NPP. I promise to get into the trenches in the Volta Region to campaign for Mr. Akufo-Addo the next time he runs for president, and I am sure he will win more votes in the Volta Region the next time. In the interim, will somebody please tell me how I can win my wife back? I will remain forever bitter should my wife leave me because of some foolish Ghanaian politicians and their self-centered politics. So, can politics really break up a marriage? Isn’t my wife just hiding behind politics to achieve a selfish end? Somebody help me with some advice, please! I hope to come back with a sequel should things return to normal between us.

Kwabla Vogãh (kwablavogah@hotmail.com).