ELECTION BEFORE ACTION?

It is sometimes disturbing when we listen to the kinds of promises made in the name of politics. They sound too good to be true! Imagine a person seeking for a job and yet promising one in return? How likely is that? That is the first question we should ask ourselves each time we listen to our various politicians and people seeking for election into various offices as they campaign. From our past experiences, lessons should be learnt. How much have our politicians done for this nation in recent past? How many of our politicians or leaders have been able to make good their promises to some considerable extents? We keep hearing promises each day and yet, we keep getting disappointed. We keep listening in faith over and over again. It is therefore true after all, that faith is believing in something unseen and yet we hope for. And so, we live and wait in hope! We live and wait in hope for a day when politicians would try their possible best to be true to us!

With all these promises being made each day by our leaders, when will they actually carry out what they promise? With all that keeps happening, one issue comes to mind each time I ponder on the various promises made and yet unfulfilled in the past. For most people I believe, these sentiments are shared. Do our leaders need to be elected into power before the right thing is done? The question becomes “Election before Action or Action before Election?”

Obviously, there are certain needs that can be met without necessarily holding a particular office. If our leaders could in truth identify a particular need in our society and work hard to ensure that the need is met, people would have no doubt in their competency when seeking election. I am tired of the kind of politics being practiced in this nation, and I believe in saying this, I speak not only for myself! When would our leaders selflessly satisfy our needs? I wait in hope for that day because rather sadly these days, most of our leaders seem only keen on satisfying their personal needs.

Most of the time, we listen to people boasting about how easily they can initiate and execute a particular project when elected into office. From their words, it becomes very clear that they perhaps have the requisite resources for the smooth execution. I throw this challenge to these people that they perhaps carry out pilot projects for people to actually appreciate their intents. Sometimes we need not wait until elections in order to help society. We need not wait until election before we take action. We need to see leaders who can act before seeking for election. We are tired of listening to people rattling out empty words. We need people we can back their words by action. Our politicians in the past have failed us and keep failing. From their failures, it is clear that “Talk is cheap!” as the Americans say. Instead of talking, they should do something. Action speaks louder than words! The best form of teaching and learning is through practice!

Of course, society loves to talk and so, people learn how to talk on the political platforms. Ironically, society treasures the big and long talk and so, our politicians are making use of this tool to con us. We love the loud and talkative politicians! The ones who make gargantuan promises and yet fail us in the end! The ones who cook up tales and yet, manage to brainwash us into believing in the end! They take up the stage and leave us in awe in the end and yet fail us. We love to listen to the ones with long speeches and big grammar. The one who speaks the truth is doubted because his words contain fewer lines. The liar of course, learns to polish his lies in so many words and in the end, we believe. This has become the story of our politics. We nurture deceit each day! Let us learn to be practical as much as possible! If we are to vote people into power, we need to do so based on their integrity. Even at birth, a person born to be great can be sighted. A promising leader is branded as such based on the strides he has taken and the successes chalked at the root stage. We know of such people in our societies and it is time to give them a chance. All around us, we know of people who have made great impact in our society and in our lives based on their achievements. We ought not wait until elections before action is taken. We need to tell our leaders that we need Action before Elections!

Anna Esi Hanson ([email protected]), Takoradi.