ELECTION 2012: WHY I'LL VOTE FOR THE NDC

ELECTION 2012: WHY I'LL VOTE FOR THE NDC
51 X'Masses ago, my village, the first human habitation to enter in the Ho Municipality when entering the capital of the longest region in Ghana from the direction of the national capital came into existence owing to the vision and hard work of the Founder of the leadership embattled ARS Church.

About 25 years ago, when the electric power generation plant provided by the Late Saint CKN Wovenu which supplies power to vital places like the ARS Church Mission House, the Pastor's Residence and the Streets in the village broke down, the inhabitants of the village never enjoyed electric power for about 26 years except during funerals when bereaved families go to hire what we call “generators” to light-up the funeral grounds and play music to either entertain their sympathizers or to mourn the dead.

I'm now a man so I stay on my own outside of the village in the name of work. But my father, a retired teacher still leaves in the village with his wife. As the typical young Ghanaian professional will tell you, I visit my “old boy” and “old girl” quite often. During one of such visits, I saw electric poles erected across the village. At home, I asked: “What is happening?” My father replied: “Nor afima! Miele dzo xorm”. This literarily means “be there, we are getting connected to electricity”. I laughed it off and told him, forget it!

In a matter of months, somewhere early this year, in the late afternoon of a day I can't actually remember, my cell phone buzzed and it was my senior brother. It is usual, he did not hear from me in days. I picked-up the call and without him asking the usual questions such as how I am doing and how the president and the first lady were doing, he said guest what, I've come to the village and we are enjoying electric power from the national grid. The troubles of phone charging are over, I replied!

In fact, this is how far the Mills/Mahama turned Mahama/Amissah-Arthur led NDC government has brought my village within three years in office.

Please don't misconstrue the “how the president and the first lady were doing” question that my senior brother use to ask me to mean that I work in the office or the house of the president and the first lady. That is how he refers to my little boy and girl.

In the 1990s when the only primary school in the village needed classrooms most, the then NDC government under the leadership of “Africa's most efficient dictator”, HE Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings came to the aid of the school with two three units pavilion classroom blocks. I don't have what it takes to declare ex-president Rawlings Africa's most efficient dictator. I'm only quoting how the America's 60 Minutes described him according to John Westwood in his book The “Wise Cracks” of J.J. Rawlings.

When the primary school became a two stream school – “A” and “B” in the 2000s due to population growth, the school needed extra classrooms to accommodate the pupils in the stream “B”. The then NPP government under the leadership of JA Kufuor perhaps did not see the need so the “B” stream had to manage until the coming into office of the Mills/Mahama turned Mahama/Amissah-Arthur led NDC government.

Just when the village got connected to the national electricity grid, construction of a six unit classroom block with office facilities started and before I finished casting doubt on its completion like I tried doing during the erection of the electricity poles, the structure was ready for use. Not too sure of what was happening in the village in terms of development; I asked whether any son or daughter of the village holds any key position in government and the answer was NO! I confirmed this NO answer as I traveled beyond my village which has been turned into a town within a split of three years. As I traveled, I observed that, other villages along the road which were in the same category with my village three years ago have also been connected to the national electricity grid and standard classroom blocks built for them. Certainly, all these villages couldn't have had sons and daughters holding key positions in government. This is equitable distribution of the national cake, I told myself.

As I read Hon. Fiifi Kwatey's speech delivered during a meet the press session of the NDC Forum for Setting the Records Straight, I was astonished to have discovered that followers of the Danquah/Busia tradition opposed virtually every good thing that happened to Ghana – from the construction of the Akosombo Hydro Electricity Dam to the Tema Motorway and the implementation of VAT and GETFund. I then asked myself, is it the reason why they are so much against the creation of the 45 new constituencies even though Hon. Dan Kwaku Botwe claims the NPP will win parliamentary seats in 25 out of the 45 new constituencies?

In the Fiifi Kwatey's speech I talked about, he stated that, parties and candidates can make promises upon promises but what is important is the track record of the parties and the candidates making the promises. He chronicled a host of promises by the NPP in the run-up to the elections in 2000 that brought them to power for eight years which they failed to fulfill. On this background, I begin to wonder if the fee free SHS education policy promise the NPP is making will end up as one their failed promises should Ghanaians vote for them in the December elections.

One thing actually leads to another! I recalled something that happened not too long ago on facebook. I raised a point on my wall to the effect that a minister of state in-charge of tertiary education in the JA Kufuor government, Ms. Elizabeth Ohene told Ghanaians that government could not continue subsidizing the cost of tertiary education. What informed this statement by the minister, only God knows! I concluded by asking how the NPP expects Ghanaians to reconcile the position of the party as per Ms. Elizabeth Ohene's statement at the time with the current position of the party's flagbearer Nana Addo. Useless conclusion! Isn't it? Read on!

One of the responses to this post on my facebook wall was from my SRC president back at the Ghana Institute of Journalism Mr. Dziedzorm Jay Jay Segbefia – a known activist of the NPP. He argued that, there is a world of difference between tertiary education and secondary education. Surely yes! Even my six years old son who is in primary one knows this. I however found his line of argument so shocking. So shocking because, Jay Jay with his argument is suggesting that, his party, the NPP is only interested in producing SHS graduates for Ghana. As to whether they are able to afford the cost of tertiary education or not, that is their “back case”.

So I asked: are our national problems that trivial to be solved by SHS graduates since the NPP said some years ago that subsidizing tertiary education by government cannot be continued. A situation that may force many of their SHS graduates to end their education at that level. Maybe it is this line of reasoning (to produce just SHS graduates) that made them not to add any new public tertiary institution to the existing ones during their eight years stay of office.

When I have children that I'm hoping to see climb the academic ladder to the very top, it only makes sense to vote for a party that is committed to building more schools thereby making education more accessible. The NDC government having started two public universities within three years in office has proven beyond every reasonable doubt their committing towards making education accessible to the Ghanaian child even at the highest level.

Hon. Dan Kwaku Botwe and his colleagues who are “throwing the challenge” to the NDC to come-up with an alternative to the NPP's free SHS education policy should open their eyes and reason along the lines of the majority of Ghanaians. The alternative to their GH¢36.00 per student per term policy which mysteriously will cover feeding, tuition, textbooks, utilities and accommodation is quality and accessible education.

I guess free SHS education under trees is what the NPP is promising like they did when they increased the number of years to be spent at the SHS from three to four without putting up the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the corresponding increase in enrolment. NPP should come again! The 21st century Ghanaian voter is able to read through power hungry promises like the free SHS policy.

Edwin Koge
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