THE ISSUE OF POLITICAL NEGATIVITY IN OUR COUNTRY-GHANA

Political negativity is taking over every aspect of our lives as a country and the earlier we watch this, the better for all of us. We have always patted ourselves at the back as a country that has a growing democracy. This we normally do by comparing ourselves to countries where there are political misunderstandings. Can't we as a country do better than what we are doing when watch the deteriorating nature of our political system?

We have relaxed and watched our societal values depleted all in the name of politics and democracy especially freedom of speech, we have allowed all manner of abusive languages to be used on groups and individuals in our media, knowing very well that such people may never have the chance to respond to the allegations and assertions being made against them. The least said about radio stations that use our local languages the better, some of these media stations allow their listeners to be fed with all sort of concocted lies there by ending up raising down the hard won reputation of many a people most of whom are innocent of the charges leveled against them.

Politics has invigorated some sort of intolerance in our country. In recent times it has even reached a very alarming level where people who do not share the same political ideologies or opinion with someone are seen as enemies.

This has been heightened with many a youth taking the frontline role, attacking people on the social media and in radio. Many of the youth have now banged all their hopes on one political party's ability to be in government and if such a party is not in government, anything done by the government in power is bad and need to be criticized. Is this the kind of country we want in advancing our democracy?

Politics of negativity has even affected our religious system in such a way that, we now have political men of God who will go to the extent of predicting political outcome of matters some of which are untrue. This only end up discrediting such a religion and individuals or groups thereby making people lost trust in the work they do.

One other disturbing aspect of all these is that, our problems, including people who commit certain vices have now gotten political colors. People now look at matters affecting our country from a political point of view; they now see the work of our various institutions on political basis. When something goes wrong, instead of finding a solution to that, we rather politicize the issue and start apportioning blames. This has made many a people hide behind politics and political parties to commit many a punishable crime by law to our country. When we do this, the problems do not only remain unresolved but also exacerbated.

We cannot continue like this, Ghana deserves better and the future generation deserves better.

One thing we must know is, with the rise of the internet, we have many great communication tools available but something critical is missing. We need a way to communicate effectively, respectfully and clearly about what we want for our country's development today and for the future.

A growing democracy must encompass all aspects of societal values and norms, it must have the character of the people reformed, it must have the character of better governance, and better governance means better conditions for the citizens. It as well means better service delivery by various institutions. It also means strong political system with respect for human right and dignity. We must not allow our political differences dismantle the progress we have made so far, politics to me, is a game of ideas, it is supposed to help bring various views on board so that together proper solutions are proffered to our problems. It must unite us towards a common destination.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, 'Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of democracy are.the voters of this country'. We may be in different boats but we are all going to the same destination. No single individual can fix our problems, what we need is the empowerment of ourselves and every individual in a positive way, so that we can look back one day and be very proud of our democracy, we can look back and say we are indeed the hope of Africa and not just the gate way to Africa but also the finest destination in the world.

The future generation knows no politician, and the future generation knows no political party, but the future generation knows a generation that must work together and build a better future for them. Ghana's future belongs to all of us. We will suffer or prosper together. Building a promising future will be easier and more successful if we work together, and we can do this by; respecting the opinions of others, accepting new ideas and view points, by holding our views as limited and imperfect, and by always putting our country first, believing in the Ghanaian dream and continuously working towards its realization.

Prosper Dzitse, President/CEO
Institute of Mentorship and Leadership Training (IMLT).