WHEN A NATION GETS ITS POLITICS WRONG...

WHEN A NATION GETS ITS POLITICS WRONG...

By Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese
0244198031

It is said that the most cardinal pillar in every workable democracy is the citizen...because they (citizens) make the democracies work and not by themselves. The politics of the NEW WORLD ORDER is underpinned by the utmost pursuit of supremacy by individuals and states for the purposes of enslaving the masses (mostly in less endowed nations). So, the “big fishes” set the boat sailing in a defined direction where they can leverage on. They get to define what and how the politics should be, and they do so within a convenient context. This definition until narrowed down to our local context to reflect the hopes and aspirations of the citizen, then, we would have been getting the politics wrong.

Workable democracies are not those with flawless systems (institutions) but those with systems which overtime have shown the capacity to improve and to expand their scope to establish instructional guarantees that will ensure utmost security for its citizens. As President Obama opined in his farewell address “...democracy does not require uniformity...the pursuit of democracy has sometimes been radical”. In most cases, established democracies have experienced highest degree of political upheavals on a bumpy, bloody and uneven political journeys. Ghana had its share.

Ghana set sail in a new paradigm after succeeding in rooting out the incessant but needless coups. A paradigm which offered a glorious opportunity to set our own stage and craft our own political story woven around the people who are the owners of power. We got it wrong when we left our doors opened for the “exotic principles of democracy” to be imported and dumped without shaping them to fit in our beliefs, traditions, culture and the common goal.

Democracies thrive on strong institutions and these institutions succeed only when the citizens consciously offload their narrowed interests for the common and bigger interest of the state to suffice. The Ghana we started to build when the walls of military regimes were pulled down was one which made the citizen to feel safe in their individual bubbles. They feel oblige to protect these bubbles even if it means busting the bigger bubble (National interest) in order for theirs to forever remain safe.

When the politics goes bad, the system gets polarized and sharply divided. The primacy of the state power is then waived for the power of the individual units (businessmen, political parties, churches, mosques etc) to suffice. The affluent few (fat wallets, politicians, traditional authorities) buy power blocks, stay up the pyramid and set the people against themselves. A polarized system corrodes the fundamentals of political enlightenment which in turn scare away those with good character and intent from joining the national conversation. A polarized system makes foolish of genuine compromises and consensus building which are basic necessities for a nation building.

When the politics is wrong, formal education is no more meant to train the mind to engage intellectually, it rather becomes a tool for the destruction of the very fiber of society. When the politics goes bad, what is true or factual is based on what the propaganda machinery of political parties churn out and not what is based on common sense and logical reasoning. When the politics goes bad, civil society organizations become an appendage of the political class. When we get our politics wrong, the pulpit becomes the breeding grounds for fake prophecies meant to please the ears of the ruling in return for favors. Indeed when the politics goes bad, the media is just an extension of the propaganda machinery of politicians set to deceive, incite, misinformed and also join in exploiting the ignorance and weaknesses of the masses. When the politics is wrong, the traditional authorities sell their skins and stools and join the everyday politician to cheat their people.

The corrosiveness of the system which gives rise to the political polarization and the sharp divisions in Ghana is gradually breeding passive citizens who are increasingly losing faith in the political system. I see a bloodless revolution in the future which will reengineer the system and set the stage for a reorientation of a new generation who are poised to setting the new boat sailing in the right direction. The system is set to automatically crush and it naturally will do so when the new generation is awaken by the exigencies of the New World Order.

The people have been set to think in one direction. The system is set to get the masses talking about the little things while the ruling class engage in the biggest messes at our expense. The case of supporting and defending their mess without thinking is a product of the political polarization. In Ghana today, even the elite in NPP will support Kenedy Agyapong against Anas even if the latter were doing anything to safeguard the security of this nation. It’s how the system is set. Today, the most educated in the NDC will go all out to defend Woyome even if all point to the fact that he duped the state of millions of Ghana cedis. That is how bad our politics has gone. Today, ordinary citizens who have neither traveling passports nor biometric birth certificates are defending the NIA over its decision to limit Ghanaians to the two above as prove of citizenship in the ongoing registration. All these defenses  because it is their party in power and so, they owe it a duty to go out and defend without even thinking about their own illegibility. That is how we are set as stooges to play according to their dictates. The politics has indeed gone bad.

Today, nurses in surgery rooms are comfortable to leave their dying patients and to use that same time to defend their political parties on social media. Judges comfortably write their mobile money contacts as the Preamble of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, thereby selling justice to the highest bidder. That is the extent of the stench in our system.

WHEN THE POLITICS IS WRONG, THE ECONOMICS AND THE REST WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE WRONG.

Shalom!