
In the heat of the 2023 NDC parliamentary primaries, I attended a town hall meeting that the party organized at Sogakope in the Volta region. The keynote speaker was the Honorable Fiifi Kwetey. As expected, several assurances, promises, and hopes were delivered, all aimed at charting a roadmap to victory in the general elections. One important moment, however, caught my attention, and that is what I am here to talk about.
A former Member of Parliament from the Volta region was honored, and a citation was read about her service and devotion to the cause of the NDC. The story was told that, even after leaving office, the old lady was without a vehicle, and at one point, the party's founder, the late Jerry John Rawlings, had had to come to her rescue and offer her a car. The story was so surreal that some of us were moved to tears. It was a good example of giving honor and respect to people who committed their lives to public service and to the cause of serving our dear nation with selfless humanity. I call it the Ewe dynamo! In modern physics, while a dynamo still runs around converting mechanical energy into electrical, its use has largely been localized at the advent of alternators that are less industrious but faster and more efficient at what they do.
Thousands of stories are told about how energetic, hardworking, and loyal the majority of Ewe political appointees have been to presidents past and present. In my hometown, for instance, we loosely would say that a typical Ewe cares more about his office and loyalty to his bosses to the extent that he would love to be called a strict disciplinarian by his subordinates rather than be showered with gifts and praises by the latter. Some Ewes have the eyes and ears of presidents and would, on any given day, be described by their bosses with the most glorious and flowery language you can imagine. Yet, they alienate themselves from the people they emerged, ostensibly catching favor and goodwill for themselves! Such an octopus mentality in display where one catches the attention of people in his office to make himself or herself look like the best breed that has ever existed on Earth and yet has no use to his people is askew to reasoning!
An old Ewe proverb says that the spirit that gives yam to a child in the bush should also provide a hoe for weeding! When you teach people about service and dedication to duty in the interest of one’s motherland, you ought to teach the same people also that people are who made them who they are today. Therefore, their singular appointments should not only end in praise-singing about them since that alone renders their work incomplete, for there is also a solemn obligation to the people from who they emerged! Professor Olson once told me in law school, “Manaseh, when you leave here, no one cares about which law school you attended some ten years on. People would be asking about how many cases you have won!”
Earlier today, I saw a Facebook post where the writer condemned the president-elect’s decision to re-nominate Mr. Alban Bagbin as parliament speaker ahead of Hon. Doe Adjaho's candidacy. The post aimed to promote the idea that an Ewe who happened to be a speaker before the unfortunate ousting of the John Mahama administration should have been supported to regain the same position ahead of Mr. Bagbin. I partly support this argument, but my disdain is directed towards Ewes, who shout and advocate group interest in situations like this when it comes to political appointments, yet when these appointees assume political positions, all we hear about their appointment and its culminating effect on leadership and governance is about their loyalty, industry, and hard work to their masters.
No government puts money directly into the hands of the citizenry. It is the policies and programs of government that must touch the lives of the citizenry. National development must touch every person and, for that matter, every corner of Ghana. For this reason, it would be unreasonable to expect that because Ewes and the Volta region play a pivotal role in winning political power for the NDC, an incoming president must give more attention to the region than to any other region.
However, it is the responsibility of appointees from the Volta region who are fortunate to find themselves serving in the government of Ghana to use their influence and offices to serve the good people of Ghana and simultaneously create opportunities for the people from whom they emerged. Therefore, while I will support the idea that people who assume political office need not necessarily be chosen based on geographical and cultural considerations, we must understand that politics is a social construct; as a consequence, insofar as an Ewe interest is concerned, I support one.
Meanwhile, the bigger question is, what caliber of Ewes for political offices are we advocating? Is it Ewes who will sit in parliament and conduct parliamentary business with such finesse and astute political mastery that we have never seen before, yet have never even used their offices to bring home any meaningful opportunity to the people from whom they emerged? Or is it Ewes, who were cabinet ministers and some chiefs of staff, served their masters meritoriously and would on any given day be applauded for their service, loyalty, and dedication, yet the road leading to their hometowns, even a trail that took me to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, is better?
To this end, the current crop of Ewes from the Volta region, especially those of us who were born therein, grew up therein and understood the challenges of our people, would want to see a stop to generations of Ewes who continually pass us by: some astute lawyers, big-name politicians, established academics, all men of letters with chains of degrees, but whose industry hardly transformed into creating economic opportunities for our people!
Folks, that is the bigger argument. I keep saying it, and I will repeat it here. The only appointees in any previous NDC government I remember whose work and dedication to building the Volta region and uplifting our people from the quicksand of endemic poverty that I can mention are the late Dzifa Ativor and Ernest Agbesi. If I will add a third, it is the young Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. Until last, we find people such as these three, who would assume offices, we would only continue hearing platitudes and vituperations from people, particularly non-Ewes, that all that the Ewe man needs is a standing ovation and empty praise. Enough is enough!
Manaseh Mawufemor Mintah
The writer is an Ewe and a member of the NDC. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.