Opinions of Sunday, 3 September 2017

Columnist: Kelly Michael Agbesi

The state of democracy in Ghana

Politicians are depressing the state of the country to their advantage Politicians are depressing the state of the country to their advantage

“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood" - Martin Luther King Jr.

It is really a harsh condition in my dear country, Ghana from the 90's to this 17. For me and some others, as if the clocks had rolled back to the 70's and the time of great famine, hustle and hardships i.e 73'. Company upon company declared bankruptcy. Unemployment soared from one state to the other. The "severe and prolonged recession," as it is dubbed by the media and has sent ripples of depression across our motherland Ghana.

Politicians are depressing the state of the country to their advantage. Thus, they provide great opportunities to highlight the failures, shortcomings, and faults of the opposite political party. The 'Democrats' found it an opportunity to blame the 'Patriotic' administration which is in charge. Preferably, the Patriots, in turn, blamed the "Democratic administration that created the problem" which the Patriots had inherited.

Everybody is fixing the blame-nobody was fixing the problem! The problems persist and are growing as the recession run rampant across the country until everyone is affected by it, I guess! Indeed, Ghana is faced with tough economic times as we as a nation continue to borrow huge amounts of monies to settle debts and carry out some developmental projects.

However, I am particularly fascinated by the educational system which has a fallen standard ranging from poor learning environment (classroom), inadequate teaching and learning materials, fully loaded academic syllabus on students, cumbersome amounts of school fees especially on the tertiary level, etc.

Again, I personally feel as a citizen (I'm not only responsible for what I do not say, but what I refuse to say) how the hard earned monies from statesmen and women are extracted in the name of 'tax' and then embezzled by some officials. I pause sometimes to ask myself, "Are we in the state of democracy? Do we even respect our own fellow human beings? (not to even mention God). I strongly believe tough times never last, but tough people do. To analyse this, it means tough people survive the tough times because they've chosen to react positively to their predicament though it's not easy as it sounds. But let's ask ourselves what predicaments as a nation do we hold? Are there any options? What are the alternatives? Which solutions are real solutions?

As at March 6, 2017 Ghana is 60 years but we still face electricity crisis, water crisis, bad roads, and companies are collapsing.

This indeed is the true state of democracy in Ghana where even electorates who goes to the polls to elect their leaders demand 'bribes' from them. It is no wonder some of these corrupt leaders, in turn, try to fill their ransom holes they've dug.

A citizen who finds him/herself in an office is not even ready to listen to the worries of those who need their help. Helpless people are made to waste much time to even find what is due them.

Every aspect of our country is going into the state of entropy hoping there are rules and regulations governing the state. Some church leaders using the 'wise-way' to extort money from the church members, some school heads not different from this act, company bosses demanding some rounds of 's³x' from job-seekers, some media people also writing to tarnish the images of others. In fact Ghana as a nation needs to sit up and get back to our own.

We actually need to go back to recite and hold on to our national anthem: " God bless our homeland Ghana

And make our nation great and strong,

Bold to defend forever

The cause of Freedom and of Right;

Fill our hearts with true humility,

Make us cherish fearless honesty,

And help us to resist oppressors' rule

With all our will and might for evermore".

This Indeed Is The True State of Democracy in Ghana.