“Ɔdɔ, me de me car no bɛmawo”, meaning; “My love, I will gift you my car.”
“My cocoa farm is yours now.”
“I will buy you a sewing machine”.
These are wise” sayings of LEGENDS, understood widely and generally as promises for access to wherever. These promises come invariably from men, as in male species, usually in a position from where they would be prepared to sacrifice anything and everything for gratification.
Years of practice encourage men to seamlessly extend the frontiers into other areas as they see fit.
It is a law of nature that time unfolds into seasons, without fail. The dry season gives way to the rainy season in our part of the world. Elsewhere, summer will give way to autumn, which will also give way to winter. It is the natural order.
Every four years, the constitutional order in this country is to hold elections to elect representatives to Parliament and a President to lead our Republic. The last exercise was in December 2020. This year we have come full cycle and as December approaches, we are gearing up for the D-Day.
So the season begins. As is usual, the election is preceded by a campaign period where different personalities and parties, clubs, movements, alliances, orders, etc engage the people, especially the voting population, to canvas ideas. Connoisseurs understand that interspersed with the ideas come PROMISES.
That season is here again. Remember the earlier promises mentioned above? Exactly the point. It is not a surprise that most people in this game called politics are male. Understanding their natural inclination to make promises to be granted access, they have carried the habit into the political arena.
For one thing, promises have an uncanny impact on the voting population, such that many consider promises in order to decide their vote. It does not matter much whether a rational expectation can be deduced from these promises or not.
It is always a mystery finding out whether it is the personality making the promise or the gullible ones following that make it possible to perpetrate this mass deception. A story is told of a lady who refused an invitation to a whisky party because she said it made her lose control of her legs after shots of whisky. That means that the electorate has the power to respond to such sweet nothings but…..
From now till December, Ghanaians must brace themselves for the season of promises. Unless one can tune the mind completely away from our surroundings the euphoria of the time will consume all
In the midst of the electioneering campaign, one thing that comes with the territory is the role of spokesman/spokesperson of one big man or the other.
Years gone by, it was so simple to clean up after the big man. He was misquoted, misunderstood, taken out of context or the reporter got the message wrong. These were popular refrains of old.
That was the period before the computer. The surest bet to access information then was the newspaper or a radio report which was not easy to retrieve, once filed.
Today, computer no lie! Whatever is said or written is only a click away and it is in the hands of everybody. For this reason, it is incredibly difficult to deny statements on the pretext of being misquoted, misunderstood or any of the other varieties of denials. A recording of the event and statement can be retrieved in a jiffy. Spokesmen and spokespersons are therefore gravely endangered as a result.
All the same, the season is here. It is a cocoa season for some, an investment season and a period of political intoxication for others.
The race gets more exciting when there’s no incumbent in the contest.
Let’s be observant and ready for a keen contest. There are many promises on the way and many goodies to be shared. Mede me car no bɛmawo! I will build an airport in every town in Ghana.
By Amb. Kwame Tenkorang
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle
