Are we discerning enough?

“Nothing in the entire world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”-Martin Luther king.

Back in a couple of decades, sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity might have been apt to describe the character of the average Ghanaian. But today, thanks to education and modernization, Ghanaians are wide awake and abreast with all the realities of the world and have their ever-enlightening thinking caps on.

That is why in this year of presidential and parliamentary elections, politicians must not take for granted, the ability of the ordinary Ghanaian to read through the lines and make good choices for him/herself. Gone are the days when the literate and the illiterate members of the Ghanaian population alike would exhibit blind allegiance to a presidential or parliamentary candidate based on the fact that the candidate is a member of the tribe or religious group of the voter.

The extensive use of audio and visual media means illiteracy is not as serious a handicap as it formerly was. Access to education and the media have endowed even the ordinary Ghanaian with much insight to his/her needs and wants and he/she like, Oliver Twist, would always ask for more.

It is thus mindboggling to hear modern-day Ghanaian politicians still being obsessed with what some describe as irrelevant issues as whether one is a Fante or an Ewe or whether one was born or raised in a Zongo community. For God’s sake, what will being a Zongo boy or girl do to the hungry masses of Ghanaians who are wallowing in the doldrums of abject poverty? The real issues of employment, the economy, the water and energy crisis which seem not to be abating, the floods and a host of issues that are affecting the ordinary Ghanaian are what our political leaders should be concerned with.

That’s not denying the fact that winning political power through elections is the first and overriding ambition of political parties, hence the permutations to them are important ingredients.

We have a capital city that is constantly swamped under water anytime there is a downpour, and yet despite the fact that this problem has been there for ages, we, like the proverbial Vulture, would always want to wait till tomorrow to solve our problems. Must we always offer curative measures instead of preventive ones?

Again, you walk on the streets of Accra and you are appalled by the number of able-bodied young men and women who have to earn their living by selling chewing gums and catapults. And the numbers of the homeless Ghanaians can easily rival that of those who have houses to lay their heads in. What are the political hopefuls going to do to alter the faith of these destitute?

I invite the political heads of this country to join me on a tour of Accra by night and I’ll take them to locations where they will see thousands of Ghanaians sleeping in the open, and in these time of rains, some sleep in rubbers to protect themselves from the rain. These are the people we must be concerned about, but a lot of these political heads have not come across these people before because the gap between them and these groups of people are very wide.

Anytime I undergo this outreach, I feel very sad for mother Ghana, because many of these people have great talent but which cannot be explored because of their poverty. And very little is done if at all to touch them. Unfortunately, their numbers keep increasing with its resultant increase in the number of them pregnant or carrying babies. These are 15, 16 and 17 year olds.

In the absence of well-thought out plans and intents that will seek to address all these problems, Ghanaians are discerning enough to continue to vote the ‘skirt and blouse’ pattern of voting that was started in the last presidential and parliamentary elections. Talking to a host of people on the streets and listening to Ghanaians contribute on issues on call-in programmes on our numerous FM radio stations, there is this real impression being created, that Ghanaians are bent on seeing real improvements in their lives. The high cost of energy, goods and other commodities is affecting everyone and people would want a leader who will offer concrete solutions aimed at salvaging the situation.

The ordinary kenkey seller whose electricity cum water bills have been increased by about 800 and 900 percent respectively in the last couple of years, and who would have to pay the high and exorbitant fees of her wards every single term, will definitely not be amused if issues are trivialized and her problems persist till her last breath is forced out of her by poverty.

While a chunk of the population are up to date with issues, it is important for every well-meaning Ghanaian to add his/her voice to the call to our politicians to address and stick to issues that are developmental in scope and which will promote the well-being of every Ghanaian. Let us consign the politics of insults and ethnocentrism to the litter bins of our past. Our political leaders must always be guided by the fact that, it is not their personal lives that will put bread on our tables but their guidance and actions.

By S. Xoese DOGBE writes the ‘Editor’s Blog’ in the dailyEXPRESS Newspaper.