Grant us, O Lord, the perfect expression of the people's will in elections 2008.

"Grant us, O Lord, the perfect expression of the people's will in these elections. Give us the humility to accept the true outcome, whether it goes for or against us, so that defeat be glorified by grace and victory be tempered with modesty, Amen".

More than a quarter of a century ago, Ghana was under a military dictatorship on a downward slip to economic and political doom. There was massive plundering of the national coffers, infrastructure was in shambles, there was shortage of almost every conceivable item on the market, standards of education had deteriorated to abysmal levels, and poverty among the masses of the people was very high. Now the country is a democracy and by the end of this year, we will have held our fifth general elections under the Fourth Republic - the first in the history of Ghana.

But poverty still reigns supreme among Ghanaians today and people are increasingly finding it too difficult to afford a single decent meal a day. About 50% of the population live on less than $1.00 a day, and over 76% less than $2.00 a day according the UN Human Index Development Report for 2007. Unemployment is above 50% as young graduates are left on their own, public schools are a dismal failure, corruption in and out of government stinks to high heavens, the moral bankruptcy of political leaders and their lack of vision are so abysmal that even a blind cannot fail to notice it.

Our hospitals are graveyards and where often the financial bottom line of the hospital gets more attention than a patient's pocket line. Ballot snatching, intimidation of political opponents, voter registration fraud, voting fraud and vote buying are all unfortunate parts of our young democracy.

Hello, is this glass half empty or half full? Ghanaians are proud of being a democrac y, on the other hand, they cannot hide their revulsion for the political leadership and the political system that keep them in perpetual poverty. Ghanaians have a love-hate relationship towards politics and politicians. While we love the label democracy, just being democratic is not enough. Our democracy must be responsive to the needs of the people.

In other words, they should benefit directly and tangibly from it. Just guaranteeing the rights of the people in a constitution however important that is, is simply not enough. Those rights must translate into better standards of living for our people. Having observed previous election campaigns in Ghana, I have come to the conclusion that as a rule of thumb, neither the politicians nor the media has a very high regard for the intelligence of the Ghanaian voter. Many political parties and politicians who can afford have turn their political rallies into something like entertainment shows and distribution of sm...

Ben Ofosu-Appiah,
Tokyo-Japan.

*The author is a senior social and political analyst and policy strategist based in Tokyo, Japan. He welcomes your views and comments

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