A Time For Choosing --- From The Lenses of a Statesman

I intend to stay in the spirit of patriotism, particularly as we are in an election year in Ghana, to inform citizens on what we ought to know and do before, during and after the general elections in order to preserve the peace and security on which progress and development can be achieved and which our forebears handed down to us.

Ghana, freedom is our inheritance and any act of ours that will jeopardize same will not only be the greatest injustice of our time but it will also be to deny Ghana and to dishonour the dead who gave their lives for Ghanaian freedom.

As the elections approach, these should be our watchwords: we must guard against violence, knowing it strikes from our hands the very weapons which we seek---progress, obedience to law and order and belief in Ghanaian values. In this election, we must seek peace. We must seek order, we must seek unity, but we must not accept the peace of stifled rights or the order imposed by fear, for peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty.

This is a time for choosing. A time for choosing a group of people who we consider most appropriate to better manage our resources and work put Ghana on a higher place of advancement from which all shall benefit. That is all that the election is meant for and not violence, divisions or insults.

These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease. They are our enemies not our fellowman, not our neighbour. And these enemies too shall be overcome if we remain united and face them head-on.

In that case, our duty must be clear to each of us. Every Ghanaian citizen who has the right to vote must look at his economic conditions and the performance of the government so far and if he is satisfied, gives it another term in office. But if not, he kicks it out and employs a better alternative to manage our affairs.

No act of violence can save Ghana from the abyss or the shackles of poverty. If we can can bring God into our politics, all well and good. Do you reckon there could ever be peace in any human or social activity from which God is effectively shut out? No! Impossible! Our mindset should be that no matter who emerges victorious in the upcoming elections, Ghana must remain intact and move on.

We must move on and work to eradicate poverty from our land. We must move on and work to erase ignorance from our land. We must move on and work to conquer disease in our land. And even more importantly, we must move on and work to defeat corruption from every city, from every village and from every hamlet.

I suspect that politicians, journalists and political propagandists shut out God completely from their pursuits because they know God's presence will moderate their actions and demand truthfulness, honesty and respect for people of different political persuasions.

But we must know that Ghana is bigger than any individual or group of people. The youth cannot afford to do the bidding of any individual or group. We must know that Ghana's interest is bigger than any individual interest even in this time when there are just a few patriotic people around. We must learn to hold Ghana so preciously like an egg. For where else do we go if we make Ghana too hot to live? Can we afford to be refugees in another land?

This great, rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education to all. But unfortunately, some group of people have allowed corruption to almost eat it up. We cannot afford to in addition allow violence to further aggravate a seemingly hopeless situation. We must rather work together to find solutions to them by maintaining a peaceful Ghana before, during and after the elections.

This is a country that was founded with a purpose. We must, during this elections, allow the great phrase of that purpose sound in every Ghanaian heart. We must demonstrate anew that this country has the courage to seek peace and that it has the fortitude to risk war. We must prove that we are a good and reliable friend to those who seek peace and freedom. We must prove that we can be a formidable for to those who reject the path of peace and those who seek to impose upon us the yoke of violence.

We must be unceasing in the search for peace, resourceful in our pursuit of areas of agreement even with those with whom we differ---and generous and loyal to those who join with us in common cause. We must be prepared to defend the national interest and negotiate the common interest. This is the path that we must continue to pursue.

We must not allow greedy politicians to dictate to us what to do. The youth in particular must not allow themselves to be used by politicians to carry out their nefarious activities. For this is just a time for choosing. A time for choosing competence and rejecting incompetence. A time for choosing progress and rejecting retrogression. A time for choosing vision and rejecting visionlessness. A time for choosing the best and rejecting mediocrity. A time for choosing economic independence and rejecting poverty.

So let peace reign in the country. Let peace reign in every region. Let peace reign on every district. Let peace reign in every village and every hamlet. And when we allow peace reign, when we let it reign in every corner in Ghana, then we can sing with new meaning this song:

God bless our homeland Ghana,
And make our nation great and strong
Bold to defend forever,
The cause of freedom and of right......
The 2016 general elections must be used as a springboard that will propel Ghana onto a higher place of advancement from which all shall benefit.

And may the Almighty God and the ancestors of Ghana help us to succeed!