Are We Defending Democracy, or Just Dressing Up Political Mischief as Dissent?

Ghanafuor, in light of the tension resulting from the controversy surrounding the arrest and prosecution of Kwame Baffoe, the chairperson of the Bono Region’s New Patriotic Party (NPP), the question to ponder is: are we defending democracy, or just dressing up political mischief as dissent?

There is a world of difference between a government of the day targeting journalists exposing wrongdoing by powerful individuals, and alert state security agencies acting on tip-offs to protect Ghanaian democracy.

This distinction matters when power-hungry opposition party mischief-makers deliberately fuel controversies designed to destabilise our anchoring system’s key institutions. The arrests that follow often come from tip-offs by concerned, responsible citizens who care about the well-being of Ghanaian democracy.

The aim of such mischievous politicians is usually to facilitate an eventual return to power from the barren political wilderness — a space totally devoid of the power to distribute manifold “protocol benefits” structured to entrench parties in power, with an eye on the next election cycle.

But the deeper problem is this: we are marking time instead of fulfilling the destiny of President Nkrumah’s chosen path for job creation and generating wealth that remains in communities, by seizing the commanding heights of our economy through import substitution industrialisation, anchored on our abundant natural resources. That’s because we are still not a meritocracy. Our political world is full of unethical and corrupt square pegs in round holes.

Yet no one who steps on Ghanaian soil for the first time will fail to be impressed by the amazing talent pool this country is blessed with. In the final analysis, there’s no question that the ruinous ramifications of distributed patronage flowing from nation-wrecking inherited privilege — meritocracy’s biggest enemy — are gradually destroying our society’s moral fabric and weakening Ghanaian democracy in the process.

As wise and aspirational Africans in the AI age, full of digital chicanery and strategies deployed via social media by mercenary propagandists, let’s sit up if we want Ghana to remain a functioning democracy, oooo. Yoooooooooo. A word to the wise...

Hmmm, Anansesenkrom Ghana paaa diy33. Tweaaaaaaaaaaa...