A Necessary Change Ghana Needs

The structure of governance in most African countries, and for this editorial, Ghana, is devised to get the hallucinating citizenry to accept the ruling government irrespective of some questionable actions which otherwise would normally be challenged. There have always been strong media backing for our governments to stifle objective criticism to pave the way for incumbent governments’ mediocre ways of running our country.

The ruling elite has always preyed on the ignorance of the ruled, aided by the media that turns the odd blind eye by not reporting on matters as objectively as they should. It has, therefore, become increasingly difficult to change the mental orientation of the population. The minority in our society pushing the mantra of change are easily silenced and destabilized or forced to retract or join forces with the ruling elite for their own survival.

It is shameful and disturbing how a lot of well-meaning Ghanaians fighting for change have gradually been corrupted and influenced against their own ideology. Effectively, fighting this rot in society, i.e. seeking transparency and accountability proves to be dangerous, expensive and long-suffering for proponents, agitators, or perpetrators, perhaps the worse being lack of support from the masses to cast their ballots in the positive direction

Ghana in its fourth Republic since 1992, 28 (twenty-eight) years, have come a long way, yet, the only changes we see have been a switch between the 2(two) major political parties NPP and NDC taking turns to run the country on the average, every 8 (eight) years. to the detriment of the rest of the population. Untruths and unachievable manifesto promises are the order of the day. Once elections have been completed and a new administration takes over no questions are asked about undelivered manifesto promises and this has become the norm. Excessive government expenditure supplemented by foreign borrowing with nothing to show for except the sudden wealth of government appointees and their families is the only way to describe how Ghanaian governance system works.

The time has come for us to demand a real change that will begin to overhaul our structure of government, civil service and the constitution as a whole. It is also time for a government who is willing among other things, to lead by example and cause an influence of change within the population.

The time is now to make people face the consequence of their actions without fear of favour. Too long have we looked on unabated the recurrence of scandals upon scandals.

Looking around and seeing the number of abandoned government projects by various administrations and institutions beats my mind. It is time for courage to cause a real change, a change not only by the power of the thumb but by the collective will of the masses to make the country work again. We must not accept the norm where each of the big parties takes turns by slightly improving upon the achievement of the other whilst scoring well below the pass mark. Some of us have been calling for the removal of both NDC and NPP simply because they have nothing more than what they have already shown. The change must come and very quickly.

The year 2020 must be the year where the norm and status quo is unsettled and toppled for the beginning of the new Ghana agenda. There is a greater need for the electorate to be courageous and vote for the third force, Progressive People’s Party (PPP) at December 2020 general elections for a real change to occur in the history of Ghana.

It is never too late to muster up the courage to steer your vote in a new direction to try the next alternative government in the PPP to realise what they can bring to the people of Ghana as we have experienced both NDC and NPP in countless times to no avail. It is, therefore, appropriate to try a different approach to how our country is run.

By: David Aikins-Bekoe

Youth Organizer

Progressive People’s Party UK

[email protected]