Politicians As Angels And Corruption In Sub-Sahara Africa

In many of the sub-Saharan African countries, Politicians or political leaders are often seen as angels, all-knowing, and the ones to do everything for the people. It is not uncommon to see people seeking for a political leader to help in paying the bride price. The Ghanaian case is even worse. For Ghanaians, politicians are same gods who are solutions to the problems. My argument here is that the glorifying and worshipping of politicians as the answer to every problem including personal issues is what breeds corruption and unaccountability. This essay is organized in four paragraphs: the first one gives the introduction, the next two consist of the evidence to substantiate my argument and the last paragraph summarize and concludes.

To start, one may argue that the glorifying of politicians as angels lead to the phenomenon of corruption and insider dealings. If I had to all your problems including your chop money, then I have to also resort to the informal ways of raising enough cash. This is part of the reason why many of the political leaders in the region are corrupt. In the Ghanaian society, a member of parliament is expected to attend funerals and important occasion. He/she is also expected to give cash to many of the people he/she meets. The one to do all is also the one to spend all and this makes my first argument. In contrast, one may argue that if the political leaders had implemented policies to solve their problems they wouldn't have been such a phenomenon. This also calls the redefinition of the boundaries of the responsibilities of a member of parliament.

Also, the phenomenon may breed nepotism, favouritism and misappropriation of the national resource. With the mindset that the politicians are the solution to their daily problems, people always try to push a particular candidate that when he or she wins they can rely on the politician. Nepotism and favouritism come in when the politician, after winning turns to use what would have been used for the collective good, to solve the need of only the individuals who gave him of her their support. The donation of motorcycles to certain individuals in the Kpandai constituency by the member of parliament, Hon. Mathew Nyndam, when the whole district/constituency is suffering from inadequate water. It will shock you if you set your eyes on the situation.

In conclusion, I am arguing that the phenomenon of seeing the politicians as the ones to all call for corruption and other bad governance practices in sub-Saharan African countries. This is an issue no single research has examined. I am currently writing a research paper on that and I look forward for support.