THE BEAUTY OF DEMOCRACY

I extend my congratulations to my fellow compatriots for holding, once more, a successful election that seems to consolidate the path of democracy we have chosen for ourselves. We're only fifty five years old as a country, but I'd say is quite a good performance on our part. We hope that as the years come and go, we'll improve our credentials in the democratic process. It's far better to elect our leaders by the thumb than by other means. I don't have to mention examples to prove this point. Just look around on our continent.

Thanks to democracy, someone like Ablakwa, Baba Jamal and Ben Kumbuor can stand for the position of Member of Parliament, win, and be addressed with the title "Honourable". If we had other means of electing our leaders, these guys especially would not qualify to enter Parliament. I doubt their capabilities. At the end of their term in office, we'll see what they have done with themselves (their stomachs and their bank accounts) and what they have achieved for the constituencies and Ghana at large (I'm not insinuating anything. Time will tell). I for one haven't heard these gentlemen say/do anything constructive since they came to government. But as I said, it's only in a democratic country like Ghana, where a good portion of the voters are die hard supporters, without any critical basis, where Ablakwa et al can be elected into a honourable House of Parliament.

Assuming, our Electoral Commission did its work right, I'd like to congratulate John Mahama for his victory in the presidential elections. I'd like him to know that a lot of us in Ghana, nearly 50% of registered voters, wouldn't have wanted his party to have won this elections. Unfortunately for us, those who have been denied basic education are far more than us and they managed to vote for the NDC and hence Mahama's victory. That's why other politicians want to implement free SHS.

I have a few pieces of advice for John Mahama: he should NOT have people like Dr. Tony Aidoo advising him. For each one of Dr. Aidoo's advice that is acted upon, Ghana regresses 10 years (take standard deviation to be 4 years). If all Ph.D. holders were like Dr. Tony Aidoo, I'd not recommend anyone to go to school. Neither should Mahama have the likes of Benjamin Kumbuor as Attorney-General. The government's chief lawyer who shoots at his own car tells us it was done by assassins who wanted his life. Kumbuor too is a Ph.D. holder. Can you see a pattern here? He doesn't know there's something called ballistics? I'm not a lawyer, but I studied a little physics in school, that's sufficient enough not to accept Kumbuor's cock and bull story. How can he represent the government of Ghana in legal procedures if he doesn't know basic things like High School physics? No wonder the NDC government lost many of its cases in court. Mahama, please implement free High School Education so all Ghanaians including these ones I have mentioned can learn something. Ignorance is not good. Just think of Koku Anyidorhu and they guys i mentioned earlier then you'd see.

As to improving our democratic credentials, I'd suggest we implement electronic voting systems. Results are counted electronically, fast and the ballot papers cannot be stolen! That's what all serious countries including our third world partners do. No one can bribe the machine to inflate the votes. We just have to make sure we don't buy funny machines that break done in the middle of the elections.

On solving our problems, I'd advice Mahama to think mostly in the long term. For instance, sending 250 students to Cuba for that $ 160 million is definitely not a good idea. I wonder why no African leader has realised the tricks that our communist friend is trying to play on us. Take the amount of money we pay Cuba annually and multiply it by the number of African countries (especially sub-Saharan) and you'll see how much Africa as a whole is given to Cuba, in exchange for things we could have done ourselves. This country has an economic blockade for a long time but it has more money than Ghana, yet we keep giving it more of our little money. You see this is slavery starting all over again.

Mahama please read Kwame Nkrumah's book (Capitalism, the last stage of Imperialism). This is just one out of many countries that we ship our money too for peanuts. Please, all Ghanaian problems have Ghanaian solutions. Yes we can solve our own problems. When a beggar tells you he'll help you, ask him for his name. We Africans think we're poor but every non-African things we sitting over pots of gold and we don't know what to do with it, hence all manner of tricks to come and collect some, if not all.

Mr. Mahama and the NDC, I'd like to congratulate you once again for your victory. Show us that you're better than the team C players that we've been told you are. Please, appoint serious people into your government if you intend to achieve anything meaningful in your term of Office, and if you want to leave behind a proper legacy of your presidency.

Good luck in your quest to manage the affairs of the Republic of Ghana.

Yawa Kumah Dogwood,
Cape Coast.