Many more rivers to cross

Another gruelling, nerve-wracking election has come to an end, with the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate, as the winner. Official results released by the Electoral Commission (EC), which were read to the public on Sunday night, indicated that Mr Mahama received 5,574,761 votes, being 50.7 per cent of the 10,995,262 valid votes cast nationwide. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) followed closely behind with 5,248,898 votes, representing 47.74 per cent of the national votes. The other presidential candidates cumulatively received a little over one per cent of the votes. The process was generally acknowledged by many, including the various observer missions, to be free and fair and without many nasty incidents. However, there were equipment challenges and delays in delivery of electoral materials which dragged the election into a second day in some places. The challenges posed by the electoral equipment had not been ruled out totally in the estimation of affairs, but the delays were purely human and should have been avoided. Otherwise, the voting process was faster than it had been in previous years, which means with time the voting time could be reduced considerably. Just as we were about patting one another on the back for a good job done, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) raised an issue with discrepancies they claim were recorded at some polling and collation centres. If there should be any element of truth in the allegations, then it means those appointed by the NPP to protect its interests dropped their guard somewhere along the line. That could not be blamed on the EC, which had always stressed the point that elections were won or lost at the polling centres and, therefore, urged party representatives to remain vigilant at all times. The reaction of the supporters of the party who stormed the offices of the EC brought back painful and distressful memories of what happened in 2008 when NDC supporters, acting on suspicion that the EC was in for some sinister acts, massed up at the offices of the EC, ready to do battle. Such a picture being beamed to a global audience, while our democracy continued to be touted as a beacon for the rest of Africa, is disgusting and, to some of us, even disgraceful and should be avoided at all cost in future events. It is unfortunate that more than 24 hours after the declaration of the official results, Nana Akufo-Addo is yet to concede defeat and congratulate the victorious Mahama. What that means is that we are embarking on another political administration already fragmented without any national cohesion. We are starting in an atmosphere of suspicion and acrimony, a situation which is damaging to our national health. Mr Mahama can now feel confident that he has moved from a caretaker leader to an elected one who has the full confidence of the people. I believe that during the campaign, his focus was not only on the crowd of party supporters who clamoured to listen to him but also on the condition of the roads in the country and the abject conditions under which the majority of our people live. He, therefore, does not need anyone to remind him that there is a big task ahead of him. We must begin to see the problems of this country beyond Accra and a few other towns and cities and face the real truth that the majority of our people are only existing and are still far away from the basic requirements of human survival. During the electioneering, almost all the presidential candidates pledged to distance themselves from factionalism and see themselves as leaders of this dear country of ours. This is a big challenge to the President as he fastens himself into the saddle to take up the mantle of leadership. He must try to break the winner-takes-all syndrome which is at the centre of the hostility, viciousness, mischief and intolerance that have characterised our politics. The fear of losing one’s livelihood and self-esteem when a group of people are in political power is, arguably, one of the reasons people are prepared to do anything to gain or retain power. If we will see governments as institutions that are to shepherd state affairs for the benefit of all, there will be very little motivation for people to adopt all sorts of cruel and crooked means to win political power. It is the hope of many that President Mahama will live up to his words to ensure that the national wealth flow in all directions, without distinction or discrimination, so that any person who is prepared to work will get his/her due reward. We have scraped through another election with some appreciable level of success. Ours may be far better than that of others and the international community is going to heap praises on us. That is good for our national psyche. We must, however, admit that so long as our national elections continue to be conducted in an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, so long as we never conclude any election without one party or another complaining of discrepancies, and so long as our elections never bring us together as a united people who must share in the bounty of our national resources and, where it becomes necessary, we acknowledge our failures and resolve to correct them, we must gird our loins, for there are many more rivers to cross. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogpot.com

Fear, suspicion and desperation

Under normal circumstances, we would expect that periods of national elections would offer exciting moments when we look forward to electing a national leadership that will steer the affairs of state. Not only that; we would elect a leadership that would be able to harness the enormous resources God has given this country to move it from a state of under-development to a developed one. Unfortunately, elections in Ghana have become periods of fear, anxiety and apprehension. Whenever national elections approach, the whole country becomes a vast prayer camp where, with one voice, we pray for God’s abundant mercies and eternal forgiveness to see us through those elections with our bodies intact. It is strange and somehow sad that an opportunity to elect national leaders leaves everybody nervous and prepared for the worst. Strangely, those who are the key players in the exercise that has forced this country into a type of jungle where the fittest survives are the loudest calling for restraint and pledges of commitment to peace. Maybe the seeds of national discord and hostility were planted many years ago when we could not agree on a common ground for political independence. That disunity at independence continued to run through our political discourse and drew a battle line between the for and the against people. Somehow, that antagonism at independence which played a role in the declaration of a one-party state by Dr Kwame Nkrumah and his eventual overthrow faded a bit, as evidenced by the political campaigns of 1969 and 1979 when the country emerged from military dictatorships to civilian administrations. There was a return to the pre-independence and immediate post-independence days when the country was torn between powerful and rival political factions with the return to the Fourth Republic in 1992. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) both campaigned with strong tribal or ethnic undertones, a development which was not good for the psyche of the country. Our politics, for the larger part, is, therefore, not a contest of ideas and how to choose the best among the lot but a straight fight between those who can exert ethnic muscle and fan tribal hatred to win power. While there is the possibility of ethnocentricism, devastating though it is, crumbling with time or diminishing in influence as more and more people get enlightened and appreciate the beauty of unity in diversity, there is a more dangerous canker which poses a greater danger to the survival of our democracy and the stability of our country. This is the commercialisation of politics. Politics is gradually losing the objective of being an opportunity to serve and has rather become a means to instant wealth. If politicians are becoming desperate to win or retain power, it is not because their efforts to contribute to the development of this country are being thwarted but because, in the case of majority of them, their ambition to make it big without any sweat is being frustrated. It is obvious that many of those who have already established themselves in their chosen careers are not anxious to pursue political ambitions, even though they would prefer to have people they perceive to be more sympathetic to their cause in political authority. The only way to solve that problem is to make it more and more difficult for politicians in power and their collaborators in business to walk away with what they loot from state coffers. Once it becomes more unattractive to steal from state coffers, many people will not have the incentive to plunge head-long into politics. As a first step, anti-corruption laws and institutions should be strengthened and granted greater autonomy, with very little or no interference from the Executive, which spearheads the corruption deals in public service. Institutions such as the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Attorney-General’s Department, as presently constituted and operating directly or indirectly under the authority of the Executive, do not offer any hope in the fight against corruption. Until we make it difficult for men and women to turn millionaires overnight because of their political activities, we may chant peace but we should not expect a smooth terrain in our political discourse. We may not get the men and women with the call and the desire to serve this country, except the marauders who want to rape and plunder. Again, until we get an economy that can sustain credible employment for our young men and women, the hordes of our youth will fall prey to political vampires who would exploit their vulnerability. We are a few days away from Election 2012. We have said enough prayers to drown the ears of God. We have signed peace accords and made public declarations in favour of peace. Let’s wake up on Friday morning and cast our ballots peacefully and wait for the outcome. That is an obligation we owe to ourselves, not to any politician or political party. Let fear, panic and desperation evaporate into the skies and in their place, calm and order should reign. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com