Written By Kwame Asiedu - “To be robbed and betrayed by a fiendish underground conspiracy, or by the earthly agents of Satan, is at least a romantic sort of plight - it suggests at least a grand Hollywood-ready confrontation between good and evil - but to be coldly ripped off over and over again by a bunch of bloodless, second-rate schmoes, schmoes you chose, you elected, is not something anyone will take much pleasure in bragging about.”
According to Abraham Lincoln, “Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” In less than eleven months this statement would have a lot of relevance to the people of Ghana. To say the 2016 elections would be a land slide for any one political party would be probably living in the land of the naïve. Truth is the Ghanaian electorate is split right through the middle with less than 10% determining the balance of power on a four year cycle. Many reasons have been alluded for the tying of voter umbilicus to the two main political parties. Interestingly whatever the arguments have been, the statistic has failed to change.
What is fact is that the 10% who are kingmakers have interesting reasons for their voting. As a people we are very forgetful and attracted to new things. The pain of yesteryear means very little if some goodies are seen in the election year. We prefer to be given fish than to be taught how to fish, or so it seems. After all, “Nyame na aye.”
I have in the past few days tried to think of the major factors that would shape this campaign and tick the boxes for these golden voters. We all know that every party would have a manifesto but can also agree that to many a Ghanaian these documents would be worth less than toilet paper. Many who have voted in the fourth republic have no idea what the respective parties stood for or what they were campaigning on. Ours is an election based on personalities, propaganda, vote buying and often pure lies.
In this coming year I can safely predict there would be more stable power supply than there has been over the last eight years. Many people, some of whom have lost their livelihoods thanks to load shedding will fall for this. They will argue till their faces are blue that the government should be credited with fixing dumsor. They will choose to forget about the pain their families have gone through, the marital breaks, bankruptcy etc. that may have befallen many. Even some in the middle class who have sought private solutions to public issues resulting from poor planning and bad governance would lose their sense of reasoning. They would not pause to ask questions as to how the baseline energy requirements of the country have suddenly been fixed without a clear plan ensuring guaranteed gas supplies and financing to provide the various fuels the different electricity generating plants require. They would have no worries about potential overspends just to provide electoral power supply in a low producing economy that has haemorrhaged for years thanks to dumsor. Yes this group would bury their heads in the sand and vote.
There would also be a lot of tape cutting i.e. commissioning of infrastructural projects. These ceremonies would have inflated budgets and make a selected few rich. They would also fund local electioneering, rallies would be held on the same day as project commissioning happens. It would be seen as mere coincidence; few would see it as abuse of incumbency and like money through the till, would draw votes through the ballot box. These voters would be oblivious of the pain, suffering and gnashing of teeth that they have been subjected to. They would mortgage their self-worth and damn the consequence.
Some would also succumb to thuggery without realising that, "those who prosper by thievery, thuggery, or by ruining another, have chosen to live on the devil's dime." They would allow the wolves in sheep’s skin to thrive on their fears and insecurities and overstay their welcome in the governance of our country. They would not see beyond the name calling and tagging of others as violent and buy the narrative that security is only guaranteed when certain politicians are in power. They would forget that security is not only the absence of war but includes the ability to make ends meet, provision of food, cloth and shelter and the absence of fear. They would make nonsense of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and not aspire for self-esteem which would allow them to make informed electoral choices.
There would also be the cocoa season voter. These are the ones who would basically sell their vote to the highest bidder. They have no loyalty whatsoever and just follow the crowd. To them, branded chocolates and other goodies is all their lives are worth. Some would even settle for as little as anal syringes without knowing where the meal that would make them constipated would come from. This group would make the quote by Winston S. Churchill very poignant, “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” They would make us all understand why it is in many politicians interest to keep the national illiteracy rate as high as possible.
Truth is this election wouldn’t be won or lost on the streets of Accra or any other major city or in the lecture halls of Universities and Colleges dotted around the country, neither would it be won in the offices and high rises of Airport City. This election would be based on the thoughts and choices of many who care less about the direction the nation seems to be heading in. This election is more about who un-taps the behaviours of the marginalised in our country and who can get them to think and feel human again. We must also know that feeling human is a journey and these voters need to be made to appreciate a way out of their current predicament and be willing to go on this journey to self-fulfillment and self-esteem. We must let them buy into the idea that representative government isn’t artifice, or a political myth, designed to conceal from the masses the dominance of a self-selected, self-perpetuating, and self-serving traditional ruling class and that they matter.
I would sign off reminding you all that, “I'm all in favour of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.” The country is at a crossroads where clearly two idiots are definitely better than a genius and this election needs to change this assertion.
Village Drunkard
