It is very difficult to understand a situation, looking at it from the inside. It is best to step away from it and take a look from the outside. With the partisan nature of our politics, that sounds like an impossible task.
But let us look at what is happening to Ghana with the idea that since the tilt is to unrestrained bigger government, the proper societal balance is gone and the worst come out on top.
Indeed, Ghanaians face four realities as they wait for the long-anticipated 2024 elections and campaigns.
- That time has come. Our politicians are out of control, and couldnot be more out of touch with the needs of ordinary Ghanaians like you and me – the people that make this country work. We lack courageous leadership backed by common sense and a commitment to getting big things done.
- There are no conservative ideas circulating in the country, there are only pro-big government socialists who continue to urge Ghanaians to surrender their rights to the state and the ruffians who pretend to speak out for the marginalised, but somehowalways end up with policies that serve themselves, not the poor.
- Majority of voters, regardless of their politics, where they come from, and their circumstance in life, and simply want the current crop of demented, power-obsessed, corrupt politicians OUT do not know how it is to create a society of abundance! They might go to the polls next year out of loyalty for their party of choice and or fear of losing a social grant, not for change.That is the good news.
The bad news is:
- A few individuals might be planning, with the help of some people in the media and some corrupt people from Big Tech to steal the 2024 elections by any means possible.
No matter how one look at it, Ghana’s democracy is facing a serious threat from planners who are jumping over themselves to use the state much better than the competition. This mentality is dangerous and is bringing us to ruin as we become an overly politically competitive country and forget what separates true leaders from warlords.
A true leader puts the people and the truth before himself or herself. A warlord pushes his opponents and critics down and do everything and anything to win the state, for the rents. Maybe there is ‘money’ in the system, government is creating jobs, and some think the government is generating growth, but when money was taxed away from the poor who would have spent it on their own behalf, is it really a great economy?
When unemployment is rising among school leavers and when the youth are fleeing abroad to find menialjobs, what bragging rights do our politicians have? Optimism is great, but when the people are clearly suffering, it is a mockery for those in power to say, “Times are great –and those seeking power to resort to lies and misinformation.
Twenty-twenty four should be an opportunity to acknowledge the truth, and a period to work with others to make this country better.Change the mind set and there will be a change in the political culture —naturally and spontaneously.
If the underlying influential attitude is the mind-set of the warlord, we will have more corrupt rent collecting interventionists in public office, whose main aim is to use their power to amass wealth, regardless of the party labels they may choose for their adornment and public appeal.
Politics floats from culture. This country is stuck with interventionist overlords who love to brag about their triumphs. Ghanaian politicians forget that they are the tools of the people, and should not try to hold them in utter contempt.
The average voter might not understand that all the loose fiscal policies is to build more economically dependent constituencies to maintain a firm hold on power, but they are not fools and it might take them away from the polls in 2024. Who cares about anincreased national debt?
That said, let us leave politics aside for just a moment and deeply consider what is really going on in Ghana and what is really at stake at this moment.
We are never victims. As citizens and voters, we have chosen to live in a country governed by our own self-deception. The majority of Ghanaians have come to expect public handouts at other people’s expense, enabling corrupt conmen to constantly conniving to give it to them in exchange for power for themselves. This country is inching dangerously close to normalising the totalitarian deceit, because the majority accept the prevailing lies and deceit.
That is our current reality. We are developing a political monoculture, which requires approval, allegiance and promotion of obedience to the state and ‘Leader,’ backed by foreign aid no matter what.Our “leaders” refuse to learn that the poor know better than they do how to lift themselves out of poverty. So why do they refuse to let them?
This country is not known for her liberties and limited government.The dictatorship we know as Constitutional democracy is drowning itself in a winner-takes-all tyranny, and suicidal economics. Our leaders benefit from the present economic development aid institutions, which preserves a paternalistic culture that relies too heavily on the technical expertise of outsiders and ignores, at its peril, the tacit knowledge possessed only by local beneficiaries.
Young Ghanaian politicians are not immune to this yearning, this will to power. Theyouth are entitled, not restrained by morals. They ridicule age and wisdom. Ironically, our politicians are getting younger with every election cycle and with not much job experience. So what are they doing in the corridors of power so early in their lives?
The reason is simple. The youth covet riches and power and not afraid to use violence and intimidation. These ‘babies with sharp teeth’ come from both sides of the aisle, not just one party. Their inclination is not to serve the people.
They want in in the extractive economic institutions. They want one thing—glory in their vision of themselves. They are no wiser; they are only more conceited. Look at the mess they are creating in the country. They are the last persons in the country who should have power.
But you already know this.
Regardless of how next year’s election turns out, majority of those who win would be those who are just happy to extract resources. They will continue to encourage the satanic mutilation of our economy; they will still work tirelessly to promote inflationary policies, as well as their full-scale looting of Ghana and their ongoing dance with the IMF, the World Bank and their indoctrination of our children with their collective welfare state poison. The institutions of state will still be corrupt, from the criminal justice system to the internal revenue system to the educational system.
Whose fault is this, really?
It is because we the people have not learned that we forfeit our freedom when we encourage demagogue politicians to vilify opponents rather than focusing on policy solutions. Encouraging the demonization of individuals without cause, divides Ghanaians rather than bringing them together for constructive conversation.
Sooner or later, we get the politics and politicians we deserve. It has ever been so. By this view, it is our own fault. And in a self-governing country how could it be otherwise? It will take a long time to put this country on the way to recovery without a truly free, courageous, truth-telling individuals and a God-fearing press, which is very ESSENTIAL to a free country.
This is a reminder: If this country want change, voters simply must outvote whatever fraud occurs. However, going into the 2024 elections, some elements within the two big parties will try to steal the elections through every manner of election violence, intimidation, fraud, abuse and paying for votes for which our political parties are so famous.
There is also the question of trust.
Can we trust the mainstream media? The Internet? Opposition sources? Political party sources? The government? Organised religion and their pastors?
We urge Ghanaian voters reading this article to take proper look at those who come to us for our votes, to look at the country and compile a list of instances of our leaders’ careless and shameless abdication of their own prescriptions. How long should we tolerate state sponsored poverty?
Truth may make us uncomfortable, but it will preserve freedom.We have a brief window of time going into 2024, during which right-thinking citizen voters can slow-down the non-stop madness. All of us, working together, can still save our country.
By Kwadwo Afari
