body-container-line-1
26.11.2012 Feature Article

GRAND IDEA IS WHY YOU SEEK FOR THE PRESIDENCY

GRAND IDEA IS WHY YOU SEEK FOR THE PRESIDENCY
26.11.2012 LISTEN

Recently, at a political rally, the current President and the NDC's presidential candidate for the 2012 December election accused Nana Addo, the NPP's presidential candidate as not having any other message besides the free SHS.

The president and his NDC government have been in office for four years now, what is the single grand achievement that the government can point to? And what is the grand idea that the NDC is running on now? Asking people to vote for you because you come from a certain part of the nation is not a grand idea. Distributing laptops, deodorants to appease and entice voters is certainly not a grand idea rather shameful to say the least given the enormous challenges that confront the nation.

The desire to become a leader of a nation such as Ghana should be about wanting to accomplish something that when your term of office is over, the people will be able to point to some achievement which transcends generations, something which brings equity. Names of Presidents like; Lincoln, Nkrumah and Kuffour, to name a few, come to mind when I think about the words spoken by Bill Gates, "Humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity, reducing inequity is the highest human achievement."

Even if the charge against Nana Addo as having only a single message, free SHS, is to be given any credence. That, free SHS, should be something more welcoming to the electorates than wanting to become a president because one comes from a certain part of the country and the erroneous and deceptive message that every sitting president gets a second term.

We now live in what is being term as a global village, where every resource of a nation is movable, but not so much with a nation's human resource. A nation's human resource is the single most valuable resource that the nation can boast of. And education is the single most important tool to add value and increase the capacity of citizens of a nation, therefore, a political leader who talks down, belittle and lampoon an idea to increase quality of and access to education, who is against equity in education is not deserving of the highest office of the land.

Voter; as you read this, before you allow your emotions to hijack your thinking, consider deeply what is before the nation come December 7th. What would have become of the oil revenue when the nation has exhausted that resource? Think of how you and fellow citizens at large have been impacted by Gold since the nation started exporting it? Think about the leaders that the nation has had since independence, what each stood for and what each believed in?

You have a choice to make. This is the moment to choose a path that will bring benefits that will transcend generations, a path that will equip citizens with the capacity to provide solutions, a path where the nations' resources are use to reduce inequity (NPP's path) or a path that may bring a smile temporary, but pregnant with misery, stagnation and oppression later ( NDC's path).

Do not complain to your family members, friends, and colleagues or to God about the state of the nation. The choice, the power is in your hands, you decide what will become of Ghana in the future on December 7th. Let me leave you with this, what we plant (choices) today, will be what we reap (effect, results) in the future.

Collins K
[email protected]

body-container-line