Election 2012: Ghana Will Rise To The Occasion

“The sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised …” 1992 Constitution: Article 1:1

Here they come again; these Ghanaians who continue to blaze the trail of democracy in Africa. They are mastering the art of cooking democracy in the pot of partisan politics.

They give it all the excitement that can be mustered, as if it will boil over. Then in a stylish manner they simmer out a generally peaceful outcome, globally accepted and locally admired. That's the Ghanaian spirit. It's ardent yet sober, vibrant yet reflective.

When you listen to the media and take a hard look at the information coming from the campaign rounds you may develop genuine reasons to fret. Some of the things one hears are quite disturbing and should not be ignored. More than a thousand identified flashpoints is certainly not a joking matter. The assurances from the mandated security agencies should be reassuring and the efforts of our statesmen and eminent persons are not to be lightly esteemed.

The truth is that temperatures are high and nerves a racking. However, while we neither have to take the peace for granted nor pretend like the ostrichthat there is no cause for alarm because we choose to hide our head in sand, we do not have to fret. Yes, we do not have to fret. We will go through this one also.

Partisan politics should not turn us into a bunch of paranoiacs. It should make as a nation rich in productive opinions. We have crossed this bridge before. We will cross it again. The waters may be much more raging and the tides very well flopping but they cannot keep us under.

We will certainly prevail, emerging and re-converge as a single united nation of spicy diversity. Our sense of responsibility in ensuring that we go through this year's election in peace should not be triggered by a fear of violence and the anxiety of uncertainty.

Fear has torments. Rather, being anxious for nothing, we should gallantly demonstrate our responsibility to keep the peace with a strong confidence that we are above war. Yes, we are above violence. We are above mayhem. We are above chaos.

We may have made ourselves unnecessarily vulnerable to poverty and disease, but surely we cannot make ourselves vulnerable to violence and war! All vulnerability begins in the mind, the breakdown of confidence.

That's why we need to reassert ourselves and refuse to be deceived that this election is so delicate that to keep the peace, we need a miracle. Of course we don't.

To keep the peace, we need to be confidently responsible. And so we shall be! Of course our confidence is in God, who has blessed our homeland Ghana and made as great and strong. Our confidence is in the strength He has given us to be wise, patient, not selfish and intemperate.

Politics has very serious tendencies and peace-threatening characteristics. It makes good men and women power drunk and ceaselessly ambitious. Politicians have their own tricks, big and small. Some pose as peaceful and yet stroke the fires of violence with their glossy lips.

Others use their leverage to remotely control the undiscerning activists and blind loyalists. Sometimes, politicians play the victim so that in the name of self-defense they can attack. At other times they inordinately apply any advantage they may have to subdue equity.

By their second nature as politicians they twist reality to suit their purpose. We must not play into their hands. But more importantly we must motivate our politicians to be what they first are: ordinary human beings in responsible leadership.

That means we should reckon that they neither like violence nor like to be associated with violence; and they would do what leaders should do to avoid violence. However, it so happens that their quest for power for leadership is bequeathed with numerous temptations of selfishness to the extent that they choose personal gains at the expense of the greater public good. But our politicians are capable of surmounting this challenge of their profession; and we look forward to their victory over selfishness at the expense of violence.

This election season has not been disappointing at all in producing the political excitement it's billed for.The seething pot of partisan politics is a vital component of evolving governance. Come December seventh Ghanaians will prove again that our democracy is not fragile for its age. We are growing, and we are growing strong as one nation. Let the world come and see.