What Price Democracy    

When Uncle Sege talked democracy, it was in terms of dividends. For a while, he kept making references to dividends of democracy. It is interesting he, a 'military dictator,' would talk that talk; that democracy has dividends. Maybe military rule in his motherland has been more democratic (requiring far greater balancing of religious and ethnic forces).

In actual fact, as a former military person, he joined civilians to form a political party after retirement. He did not metamorphose like happened in our motherland. For all one knows, that experience has had something to do with his own interpretation of democracy as dividend yielding.

Residual militarism in our motherland democracy under master born-dog has been, and continues to be very, very intense; far more intense than the Uncle Sege motherland. I believe that is why in this motherland of compatriots and myself, we can only talk about the loss and not dividend of democracy.

The man, 'that man' who born dog, and his congress have practised only deficient democracy. That is why their generals advising their presidents can advocate iron fist rule. Come to think of it, it was, and still is, congress and its antecedent council that was for over nineteen years provisional, which created the condition of indiscipline they want to correct through iron fist rule.

We, my compatriots of right thinking, do not and cannot talk dividend. Ours is loss, deficiency, even deficit (a word I use reluctantly because it has become part of the hollow expressions used by congress to deceive, digress, as well as camouflage and conceal its iniquitous cannot and will not do promises. Check out one such as 'infrastructure deficit.'

They have been stealing elections and they have been recruiting elements of no live experience (of managing skills deficit) for top public political offices. They have politicised the public service that chief executive officers of public institutions can get reshuffled. Good gracious! I am unable to fathom what this motherland of ours did to deserve such incompetence and misunderstanding of the concept of governance. The positions are for technocrats with expertise to manage those institutions!

It must be stressed, however, that it is not a system called democracy that has visited all the woes of decrepit economy on us compatriots of the motherland. It is the ingrate congress elements who have sucked every blood and energy in the economy for their personal gain who are together responsible for our dire dumsÉ”, depreciating cedi, high cost of living, incompetence of the highest order in government and crumbling public institutions along with the services they offer.

After all, in the democracy that was practised between 2001 and 2008, the motherland experienced one of its best eight years ever: road projects, expansion of educational opportunities and facilities, affordable healthcare, and a stable economy which advanced into middle income status. Instituted were the massive social intervention programmes to ameliorate poverty (including NHIS, school feeding, capitation grant, LEAP, MMT, assistance to the pregnant, free bus service for school children).

Also, democracy is about free and fair elections and not free but unfair elections in which one group of contestants can steal votes to win an election. Congress, a collection of bastardisation kingpins, has so far managed to turn every progressive concept and idea upside down in its ruinous democracy charade.

'DumsÉ” is killing us;' said one WhatsApp message. DumsÉ” has gotten worse, said another. In their messages of communication to me in my sojourn in other motherlands.

It is like how come dumsÉ”, with all the resources, including oil and gas, at our disposal.

In a survey preceding the 2008 election, my compatriots who took part overwhelmingly trusted ɔsono as more competent managers of oil revenue than congress. Congress stole the election and has since, as foreseen by my compatriots, messed up oil revenue disbursement with far less expected diversity investment.

For the first, hopefully not the last time, I was privileged to watch live a world cup football (forget a women's world cup) match between Cameroon, Africa representative on that occasion, and China. Going by the proceedings of the Cameroon and China match experience, maybe democracy is not everything. But nothing is everything.

'The Chinese team [which won 1-0] demonstrated discipline' said a co-spectator. I bet she wasn't alluding to the general's type of only-containable through 'need-iron-fist-to-fix' type of discipline and/or indiscipline. Uncle Sege would disagree with the anti-democratic general.

Uncle soldier turned politician would disagree with the soldier politician advisor to a corrupt president because if this general had any sense of discipline, he would begin with dismantling the looters brigade called ministers and thieving public institutions CEO. Before then, he would fire he who appointed them into those positions to stifle the motherland's development.

By Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh