‘I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.’- Nelson Mandela

Many are those who without a second thought blame politicians for their economic woes and the dwindling economic fortunes of the country. I have done same most of the time . But upon a second reflection, I have come to the revelation that most twenty first century politicians do not assume political offices through a coup d'état or unilaterally occupy the high offices in the country. It is rather the electorates who per the constitution transfer their individual and collective powers to the politicians. So, should we fail to elect men of integrity and capable minds, then we should blame ourselves for our indiscretion.

Our dilemma as a people is the kind of leaders we elect to manage our affairs. The danger of our style of democracy with its appendage good and evil is the blindness of the mass majority in electing competent persons to represent their interests. At the moment, any ambitious, weightless, and garrulous individual can drape himself or herself in any of the flags of the major political parties in order to annex political power.
For that matter, you find a selfish, corrupt and morally bankrupt individual nicely decorated as a poisonous saint with a tongue soaked in flattery deceiving the people in order to serve his own interests. And for the most part, many of these crude politicians are men and women who would want to loot, create and share the wealth of the nation only to delight in the citizenry worshipping them as demigods.
The thrust of the narration is, we should not ultimately blame politicians for the mess in the country. We, rather, should hang a portion of the blame on ourselves, the king makers, for voting and entrusting our fortunes to crook politicians by sheepishly electing the wrong candidates to man the nation.
They promise heaven on earth without any idea of how that will be achieved. Sadly, some of the masses swallow their void vows hook, line and sinker. If this practice persists, it would not take a century for political chaffs to occupy key political offices and further plunge the nation into chaos and crippling debts.
What, in my view, may serve as minimising the tendency of square pegs in round holes in Ghanaian politics is the need for the majority of the masses to carefully scrutinize the personalities who stand for political offices. The mantra should be ‘character and substance.’ It may sound ideal and far-fetched but the reality of the matter is that we cannot equally watch on as persons full of incompetence and selfish motives ruin our beloved nation.
In addition, I am of the firm belief that if the tribal, religious and politics of mud-slinging are reduced to the lowest level, I am optimistic that men and women of integrity who have the requisite savvy will be given the chance to manage the affairs of the nation. Someone told me that in certain constituencies in the country, the constituents are politically mal-conscious to the extent that if a goat is pitched against their political opponent, the majority will surely vote for the goat.
Africa needs political patriots with the technical and economic competencies to turn the economic fortunes of the continent around. ‘Enough’ must be drummed into the ears of chatterboxes who replace their incompetence with empty rhetoric that have minimal bearing on national development.
There is also the need for a consistent mass and intensive political education spearheaded by reputable think-tanks, civil societies and other relevant impartial bodies for the masses to come to the knowledge that a vote cast wisely is a positive step towards development.

Until the majority of the populace boldly without prejudice settles for competence and not petty tribal politics and trivial character persecution, we shall perpetually wallow in poverty while the sycophants sing praises of their paymasters for their mediocre performances.

Indeed, politicians are not saints. However we can make them act saintly. It will be pointless to blame persons we elect who are dubious in character for the malfunctioning of the economy when we could have acted wisely by not falling cheaply for the sinister overtures of these fraudulent politicians. Ghanaians deserve the best and the time to vouch for unconditional competence is now.

SOURCE: OKOFO DARTEY SAMUEL
E-MAIL: sodesq2000@yahoo.com