A nine-year-old boy talking to the father asks a pertinent question one evening, according to a tik-tok received via WhatsApp, just before the Easter holidays.
“Daddy, what is politics?” The father is initially shocked by the kind of question coming from the kid.
He rakes his memory before attempting an answer.
“Son, let me put it this way. I have to provide for you, so I am the capitalist. You are the people. Your mother who keeps the house-keeping money is the Government. The babysitter is the working class and your baby brother is the future. Do you understand?”
The boy cannot make out the jig-saw and simply says: “Well…I think so,” and tucks himself in bed and sleeps.
While sleeping, he hears his baby brother crying. He goes to peep through the window and finds the baby’s diaper in a mess. The boy tries to communicate with his mother and finds her deeply asleep. He decides not to disturb her.
He tries to alert the babysitter and peeps through her window only to see his daddy having an affair with her. He decides not to disturb them either and goes back to bed and sleeps.
At the breakfast table the next morning, the boy enthusiastically approaches the father. “Daddy, I think know what is politics.”
The enthusiastic father welcomes the son’s ability to understand such a complex issue and invites him to share his knowledge with the family. “Tell us in your own small way, what is politics.”
“Well,” the boy begins. “It is something like this…Whiles the Government is asleep, the capitalist screws the working class. The people are ignored while the future is in a mess.”
It is that kind of season again. Politics is all over in the air. Those seeking the people’s mandate are on the road making all sorts of promises. ‘Bosheaba’ John Dramani Mahama was the first to lace his boots and hit the road.
The former Head of State began his campaign with a huge promise at Ho, the Volta Regional capital, where Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, officially listed as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, was denied audience with Togbe Afede, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, in a dramatic event that still resonates with political gimmicks than a chieftaincy issue.
Mr. Mahama, though, is not a newcomer to promises. In the 2020 election campaign he drew the wrath of the various Zongo and Muslim communities by promising to build mortuaries for them in the country to preserve their dead. At the time he made that promise, I do not believe he was unaware of the need to dispatch the Muslim dead to the Father in time to have audience with the Creator of Heaven and Earth, in line with Koranic teachings.
Needless to state, the controversies raised by the ‘Mortuary for Muslims’ pledge is still unresolved. John, the campaign strategist, then incurred the displeasure of the Christian communities in this Land of Our Birth by hinging his campaign on John 3:16 in the Christian Holy book. “For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him would not perish, but have eternal life.”
It is not known as I composed this piece, whether or not John 3:16 would be revived on the campaign trial as we head towards December 7, 2024. One thing is certain, ‘Boshieba’ Mahama is still in the promising mood.
At Ho in the Volta Region, where the airport, constructed under his watch, is now a white elephant, Mr. Mahama promised to cancel ex-gratia paid to Article 71 office holders after their term of office. One significant thing about this promise is that at the time Mr. Mahama made this promise, he knew, or ought to have known, that he is the single highest recipient of ex-gratia in the political evolution of this Land of Our Birth.
The former resident of Jubilee House is on record to have received ex-gratia as a Member of Parliament (four times at the last count.) The former MP for Bole/Bamboi was also paid ex-gratia as a Deputy Minister, Minister, Vice President, and President of the Republic of Ghana.
When he was defeated at the polls in the presidential race of 2016, he laughed all the way to the bank, while officials of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) were gnashing their teeth at the loss. Mr. Mahama was paid a whopping GH¢245,000 in ex-gratia for being retired as head of state of this country. What has still not been resolved is whether or not a person who has been retired constitutionally and been paid his entitlement as such, could return to the body politic without any effort at returning the retirement benefit. All the same, Ghanaians welcome his decision to delete ex-gratia as a political requirement for Article 71 office holders.
As a sign of goodwill, one man suggested on radio that the ex-Head of State should return all that he had previously taken in the name of ex-gratia to serve as a goodwill gesture and his determination to end what he himself identified as a drain on the national resources.
Sadly, the man calling for an end to ex-gratia hit the roofs in anger. Calling such suggestions ‘silly’ – the statesman seeking to return to Government House, turned his anger on those making demands on him to return what he has collected in the name of something he himself is pledging to eliminate.
Politics, as the small boy suggests in our opening paragraphs, is when capitalists screws the working class, while the Government is asleep. “The people are ignored, while the future is in a mess.”
Politics and politicking is in season. It promises to be very active.
Whiles Mr. John Mahama promises to abolish ex-gratia, and ironically gets annoyed at the suggestion to return the quantum of money paid in the name of an Article 71 office holder, his main challenger for the NDC presidential slot, is also in the art of promising. Dr. Kwabena Dufuor, Minister of Finance in the Mills Administration, has thrown down the gauntlet in a bid to defeat Dramani, the John 3:16.
Within the NDC, foot soldiers refer to Dr. Dufuor as ‘Ahotor.’ It stems from the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana’s financial donation to the grassroots. He has now upped his game, promising to pay party office workers around the country monthly wages, if he is given the nod. What has still not been resolved, under umbrella politics, is how the man making those promises is going to redeem these pledges if he ever makes it to Jubilee House. Would the payments come from his private pocket or the public purse? It is one huge question waiting for answers.
We are yet to hear by way of promises from Mr. Kojo Bonsu, the former boss of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, who once courted trouble for himself by claiming, in huge billboard advertisements, that the entire Asanteman had welcomed him to the land of the Golden Stool, at a time when his authority did not reach Mampongten.
While the NDC’s promises are still unresolved, the route to power under the Elephant is getting even more intense. So far, nine aspirants are on the campaign trail. The two front-runners are, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, the sitting Vice-President, and his immediate challenger, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, immediate past Minister of Trade and Energy, and are being trailed by seven other campaigners.
These are Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central, Dr. Afriyie Akoto, who has resigned his position as Minister of Agriculture to contest the Presidency, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, one-time Minister of Energy, Dr. Kofi Konadu Aprako, one-time MP for Offinso, Mr. Francis Nimo, who was serving at a point in time as MP for Asante Mampong, Mr. Joe Ghartey, immediate past Minister of Railway Development, and Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, a very fine communicator and one-time Press Secretary to President John Agyekum Kufuor.
When I saw a huge bill-board the other day advertising the presidential ambitions of my good friend, Kwabena Agyapong, I screamed to the hearing of people nearby: “Money swine.” Whether or not he has the resources to finish the race is one issue that makes politics the art of convincing the majority of the people to believe in you, even when you fall short of expectations.
I shall return!
Ebo Quansah in Accra
