
Partisanship in politics could be useful if it enhanced the market place of ideas and optional efficiencies in governance. But this is not to be because partisanship, as different in spirit from mere alternatives based on efficiency, seems to embody the spirit of selfishness. The Party spirit is one which insists to have the power even when the other has better competence.
We need different political perspectives so we can use the lens of objectivity to decipher and choose the best interest of the country. But selfish men, with wicked hearts of sin, like you and I without God, have hijacked politics and turned it into partisan quest for mandated power to control resources and manipulate others.
This is why it is important for civil society, in an election year, to insist on intense organised debates for the flag bearers of the political parties seeking our mandate. We need to objectively assess their political honesty and professional competence to govern our country at this time. Then, as part of this process, we should insist that any of them who wins power should provide a specific minimum budget needed by strategic state institutions that sanctify our democracy and reflect real development.
We should insist that the party that wins power to govern should provide adequate resource to the department of social welfare, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the District Assemblies, the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Media Commission, among others.
Civil society should insist that the next government should revitalize the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to serve the public interest very well. They should separate politically exposed people from Media control and take media ownership out of the hands of politicians. We need to give our journalist independent power to wield their God-given competence to help our country.
Partisan politics is ruining our country. We should not allow the political parties to force their manifestos upon us. Our problem is not a lack of ideas on what to do and why to do them: It is about the details of the “hows”.
For example we all know that with an economy that is over 70% informal, what we need is formalization. But how to formalize requires not a borrowed frame from another country but an integrated frame reflecting our indigenous competence and global good practices. This means a lot which cannot be achieved in four political years. Therefore we need a development implementation frame that gives enough time within a well crafted accountability system.
This does not mean we should necessarily increase the term in office of a government. It means we should depoliticise and decentralize our development thinking and practice. So we must but the bigger part of our national budget into decentralized governance.
The political parties must be made to follow the line of the people not the other way round. All of them come saying “the people of Ghana…the people of Ghana” but they use us and dump us after elections. We should find a way of managing these partisan game players.
But alas, every people deserve their leaders, especially when their leaders have come from amongst them.
But we can start from somewhere, can’t we ? The political parties get a lot of financing from the partisan business people. They have created a system of scratch-my-back-I-scratch-your-back. We need some competence in our laws on political party financing. They should say something concrete about this in their coming manifestos.
They give tax waivers in the name of enhancing investment and creating jobs to improve the economy. But here we are after 67 years. Hmm, here we are o.
Of course there are many good businesses in Ghana and our business community is not doing a very bad job. With all the unfriendly policy environment, then and now, NDC has led this country before and we all saw what happened: the good, bad and ugly. NPP is leading this country now and we all see the good, bad and ugly. Now these same people are asking us to give them power again. And we don’t have a viable third option, or do we? What must we do now as a people ( including them!)?
Perhaps for the 2024 it is too late not to have either of them but at least we can teach them another lesson by giving them a President from one and a parliament from the other. Yes, the Party Politicians may not want that. They want the winner to take all so they can create loot and share! Yes, they share it with all of us who have managed to get into the party network at our various levels. Even I may be one of their beneficiaries. Civil society must stop our hypocrisy!
Is there a civil society center that has a research department that can help us with an inventory of the corruption that occurred during the recent terms of both the NDC and NPP? We need this.
They will not give enough budget to NCCE to empower the civic space so we have to force them to do that this time round. They should sign a pledge.
Now our churches must help us reclaim our country from these partisan politicians. Our churches should reconsider their strategy of trying to get mega congregations to tilt political power during elections. The power of the church is in the spiritual and moral influence more than the political influence. Or, put it another way: the political influence of the church emanates from our spiritual and moral competence. If we are more and more spiritually and morally bankrupt as a nation, our churches must wake up and help us.
Our young people seem to have advised themselves: either to leave and go invest their youth and intellect elsewhere or join the political parties to loot the country. Either way, there must be better ways for us to secure a good future for our children. Every young person, especially the intellectually endowed, should make it a habit to take concrete actions to save our sinking boat. For example, write articles and publish your views in a more concrete manner than just calling a radio station to rant. Or start and register a business like many are doing; but we need far more.
Yes, our currency is depreciating so fast, racing to the bottom with the Nigerian Naira, but our young people can overcome this hurdle if it is true that they made the first class and second class tertiary grades with their own capability. it’s been tough ever since we were told that the value is the same and the Ghana Cedi robbed shoulders with the American Dollar, even though the effect was more psychological than economic. Now reality has dawned and we are all suffering from the low productivity that betrays our acclaimed smartness as a people.
Our economy is like this because we are not productive enough. And our young people say we are not productive enough because the system is rigged. So what should our young people do? They should change the system; not run from it. Some say they are going to get resources and skills from the other side and return to change the system. Tell them we have heard too many of such vain hopes. Those who left many years ago and invested all their youthful energy in other economies returned home and realized there was not much they could really do to change things. Things had become worse. They only “saved themselves”. I remember people like Dr. Thomas Mensah who was a key inventor of the fiber optic technology that is so resourceful in the global telecom industry. He passed recently. He tried but it was too late. We all remember Prof Allotey, if we do; and many others. We have great academics, now and then, but very little to show for.
Yet it is not too late. In fact even those who have democracies older than two centuries stormed their congress recently to disrupt smooth power transfer after an election. We haven’t and won’t do that; touch wood. When we disrupted the election of our House Speaker the last time it was just a ballot box that we sought to ran away with. In the end it became a political humor that is consequential but has been forgotten!
Ghana, we are bent but not broken. Let’s straighten up before it’s too late for us and Africa and, indeed, our global village. Civil society must come clean and crack the whip. We can.
EMMANUEL Kwame Mensah
Independent Development Consultant
Accra, Ghana
Phone: 233242603183
skype: servantlove1