Politicians can no longer take The People For Granted

I guess it has now dawned on politicians and Ghanaians in general that politicians can longer take the electorate for granted. The time that they walked over people thinking that come election time they can give some people in their constituencies some bags of rice, oil and some money to be shared among the veranda boys is over.

Just look at how arrogant some NPP bigwigs have behaved the past 8 years. Talk about the General Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow. Everybody knows this guy as a 'normal' journalist when he worked with GBC. Now he commands so much air that he even has the guts to tell people how to frame their questions during press conferences. There are a host of others like Asamoah Boateng, Kwabena Agyepong, Mac Manu, Joe Baidoo-Ansah and even the presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo who thinks that because the Ghanaian masses hated the NDC for some of their excesses, they would forever be gullible to everything that they tell them.

People are not elected to high offices to lord over others. They are elected to serve the people with humility. Ghanaians can remember during the heat of the 2000 elections when NPP people claimed that they were "Self-Made People", meaning they were people who had acquired their own money, therefore, they have no interest whatsoever in dipping their hands into government covers.

I was one particular person who waited anxiously when the NPP came to power to hear them say that because they were the so-called "Self-Made People", they would forgo their huge salaries and benefits in the interest of Ghanaians. But it never happened. Rather, we saw the daytime looting and robbery when they scrambled for everything at the expense of the masses.

Now the NPP party is in a deep hole. Their backs are against the wall. They are on the ropes, dazed. Dazed. In disbelief. Dumbfounded. Name them. Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is why the NPP party has suddenly reduced the price of petrol as a way of buying votes during the up-coming presidential run-off. I would say it is too little, too late. Their time is over. Ghanaians gave them a massive mandate backed by unmatched political capital, but they blew it big time.

Even when God gives you so much capital and you become reckless, the day of reckoning catches up with you. I hope you remember the "Prodigal Son" story. Ghanaians are yearning for a change, and I guess NPP should be ready to prepare their handing over notes.

NPP followers would be in a fool's paradise to think that they would win the run-off. If they had the will of the people behind them, they would have made it in Round 1. The CPP should not dare form alliances with the NPP. If they have any memories, 2000 should serve as a warning. When they formed alliances with the NPP and they won, what happened to the CPP? They were marginalized. If the CPP people know their history, they would never form any alliances with the NPP. They are diametrically opposed parties. The UP worked and helped in overthrowing President Kwame Nkrumah from power in 1966, if CPP people are not aware.

President Kufuor came to power with big promises; prominent among them was his zero tolerance to corruption. To date not a single NPP person has been punished for corruption. We all know that he booted Konadu Apraku and Osafo Maafo from their ministerial positions for because of obvious yet undeclared ills. However, if President Kufuor had told Ghanaians the reason why he sacked these two men; they would not be leading men of Nana Akufo-Addo´s presidential campaign today.

By voting for the NDC to gain more parliamentary seats than the NPP, Ghanaians have sent strong signals to politicians that they can no longer take their votes for granted. Apart from that, this is good for democracy in Ghana . I must say that Ghanaians are very much awake. When the new parliament convenes, those who go about carrying themselves as "Honourable" must rather carry themselves as "Servants".

The same fate that has befallen the Republican Party in the U.S. is what is facing the NPP today. They slept under the political watch thinking that big crowds win elections. If big crowds win elections, NDC would have won the 2000 elections. I believe it's time for a change. It's time for the NPP to go. They are better when they are in opposition. The massive economic rape that has gone on for 8 years is enough. The international community that gave and continues to give to the NPP government is even fed up. The first round elections have proven that the masses matter. They won. They voted wisely. And they have proven that they detest arrogant people. Finally, Ghanaians have proven that they have pride.


Credit: Ekua Kwansema [[email protected]]