An Open Letter To The Youth Of Ghana – Get Rid Of These Selfish Old Men And Women

On the morning of Wednesday, 24^th June 2016, the youth of the United Kingdom, mostly the ones aged between sixteen and thirty years, woke up to discover to their horror that because of their apathy and general disinterest in the issues that affect society, their seniors had voted to change their lives, for the foreseeable future, whether for ill or for better remains to be seen. Certainly, those who are either studying or plan to study some of the languages of the countries of the union, with a view to landing jobs in the European Union are now having to think again.

In many homes around the country, some young people who bothered to register to vote in the referendum are now refusing to speak to parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles and other senior members of their own families.

The voting age in the United Kingdom was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1969. Since then, the process of registering and voting in national elections has been made so simple that it beggars belief why young people do not bother to register. Meanwhile, registration is compulsory (voting is not) in the United Kingdom.

As soon as a person turns eighteen, the registration materials are automatically mailed to their last known address. The house owner or parent receives another letter in which he or she has to confirm the names of the people of voting age who still live at the address. Everyone who lives at the address is required by law to register, and there is a choice to vote by post in the comfort of one’s bedroom or living room.

A few days before the recent referendum, it dawned on many young people that the result of the referendum could be crucial for their future. The numbers of people who tried to log on to the electoral commission’s website to register before the deadline was so huge the system crashed for nearly a day. It was so hectic the Prime Minister asked for a two-day extension to allow as many people as possible to register.

In the end, only 30% of this age group (18-30) were registered to vote, and of that, 72% voted to remain in the European Union. With a margin of just about two million, the result could have been different, if this most affected age group had bothered to register and had actually gone to the polling stations to vote.

Ghana’s Election 2016
In view of what has happened to the youth of the United Kingdom over the past few weeks, the youth of Ghana, those aged between 14 and 25 ought to open their eyes and ears and stake their claims to the fortunes of the country. Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, politicians have taken huge loans in the name of generations of unborn Ghanaians, with very little sustainable infrastructural development to show for those loans.

Roads that are supposed to have been built with these loans develop grave-like potholes before they are completed. In many parts of the country, school children still attend classes under trees in the twenty-first century. Where parents cannot afford tables and chairs for their wards, children have to carry tiny stools to school or will be forced to sit on bare floors, to take lessons.

Parents mostly in the rural areas and the less affluent ones in the cities and towns cannot be absolved from the treacherous dissipation of national resources. They are the ones who take pitiful bribes and inducements to vote for incompetent and thieving politicians at election time.

The youth of Ghana should serve notice to their parents, and older relatives that they are not going to allow them to vote for party A or candidate B just because he or she speaks their language or comes from their local area. Simply put, the youth of Ghana should work to remove John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress party from office in November because they have failed miserably. In seven years as vice president or president, he and his governing party have not made any meaningful impact on the future of these young people. Instead, every aspect of national life has gone into reverse gear.

Booby traps
Through sheer incompetence and irresponsibility, these old hags and geezers have built booby traps which are bound to hurt future generations. Large parts of nearly every town and city in Ghana now floods within just thirty minutes of rain beginning to fall and the reason is that state officials that are paid to oversee town and country planning and development have looked on as state institutions, private and commercial developers built concrete jungles in every town and city. In the twenty-first century, we still build open gutters to carry our compatriots to their early graves in floods.

Local chiefs, opinion leaders and politicians have connived with local illegal miners, Chinese and other foreign operators to destroy water bodies that have served our rural communities for centuries. Today, some rural communities have to depend on water that is not fit for watering plants and animals, for their daily water needs.

Those responsible for these outrages cannot be allowed to get away with it. If they cannot be prosecuted in the law courts, they must be punished at the polls to serve as deterrent to all future leaders of the country.

Cannon fodder
Ghanaians within the age group of 16-25 face the bleakest prospects that any generation of Ghanaians has ever had to deal with. The vast natural resources of the country are being depleted like there is no tomorrow. A very large proportion of this age group has been condemned to a mediocre education system that is not fit for purpose. Most of them are just going through the motions with very little prospect of acquiring any meaningful skills for the future.

Meanwhile, it is this age group that politicians use as cannon fodder, for their selfish political ends. They are the foot (more like fool) soldiers for electoral malpractices. It is this age group that politicians feed with strong drink and cheap food to go and bash heads and cause trouble at rallies. As usually happens in many African countries, it this same group that is used to indulge in vote stealing and dumping polling stations at election time.

The youth of Ghana have to resolve not to allow politicians to use them for their dirty work and dump them like rags after elections.

Young people ought to use the social media, the internet, twitter, WhatsApp, text and everything at their disposal, to kick out the present government, and as they do so, they should serve notice to whoever comes next that he or she has exactly four years to make a tangible impact on the fortunes of the country and its future, or be kicked out as well.

If we can make one-term presidents and parliamentarians for the next twenty years, Ghana will be on the path to sustainable development for generations unborn. The politicians will begin to take the people of Ghana and particularly young generation more seriously.

I shall return, God willing with my beaded gourd.
Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected] , or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.