Is That The Change Ghanaians Voted For In 2008 Elections?

From: Stephen A. Quaye, Toronto-Canada.

For quite a long time now I have distanced myself from talking about politics with much specifics to how the 2008 general elections was conducted and how the NPP lost to the NDC simply because the eligible voters knew what was right and they expressed it by voting to change the government of NPP and brought in NDC.

Therefore the hue and cry of economic hardships, poor health care provision, falling standard of education, the depreciation of the cedi, poor sanitation conditions, poor road networks and what have you that a section of the public have been complaining about on radio every morning to me is neither here nor there.

May be for the sake of keeping the president and his scout of ministers on their toes to live up to expectation according to what they promised the voters, yes they have to raise their hands and let their voices be heard if things are not going the way they were made to believe.

But if for mere political gains just to run this administration down and pave the way for other political parties to take over by making huge allegations or not seeing anything good of something good taking place then it needs to be condemned.

It is plain and simple. Both NPP and NDC, sold their campaigned messages to the eligible voters which clearly informed them of what they stood for, what they want to do for the country when they are voted into power and therefore the need for them to cast their votes in their favour to serve them.

The New Patriotic Party [NPP] then in power urged the people to look at their handiworks and retain them in power to continue their good work of providing quality health care, improve standard of education, road networks, create more congenial atmosphere for creation of private enterprises to offer employment to people and many more.

National Democratic Congress [NDC], managed to stir the minds of the people to believe that the NPP government was full of corrupt persons therefore there was no need to retain them in power. There they came out with their powerful manifesto which spelt out what they wanted to do for the country.

They talked about rendering probity and accountability administration side by side with offering quality health care services, create employment for the youth, supply portable water to all, extend electricity to cover every town and village, change the four years J/Senior High School education programme and create work and happiness environment for every working Ghanaian.

What the people now complaining by saying “ENKO YIE OOO” should have done was to subject these two political parties to proper scrutiny and come out with better choice before finally raising their thumb to do the voting by which I can say they did exactly that which resulted into bringing the NDC into power.

So if they did exactly that as I am saying then they need not to be complaining because they did a good job and when one knows that he has done a good job he never complains encountering bad effects later on like what is currently going on in Ghana.

To some school of thought, politics is all about spreading the money to win the people to your side and when it is done you drive the people like driving a Mercedes Benz turning the wheel to which ever direction you want and the whole body of the vehicle follows in pursuit.

Unfortunately that mentality is deeply rooted in Ghanaian politics that it has been very difficult for true and qualify leaders to come up for them to be elected into offices to serve the country. Same way it has been very difficult for the journalists to educate and inform the people to also make inform choices.

Is politics all that dirty like some other people have perceived as a practice of spreading money to buy the minds of the people and then when voted into power rule them with iron fists? To some extent one may say yes because of some examples one can point fingers at looking at how those persons came into and how they ruled the people after having their mandate.

But in real terms, politics is never of that school of thought. Rather, it is a careful study of situations in the past, present and how they are going to be in the future in terms of ruling a group of people by the people and the need to make an inform choice as to who can best qualify to do the job.

Ghanaians like Americans had the opportunity to study the ground compared it to the past, present and how they wanted it to be in the future. American voters did not want to remain in world war, they were getting too many enemies, their economy was in shambles and life was hell lived over there so they decided to oust the republican government lead by George Bush.

Were Ghanaians tired of the NPP government in provision of health care through the NHIS, three years J/SSS, youth employment programme, construction of roads, congenial atmosphere enjoyed by private enterprises in creating more jobs for the people that was why they voted for change of government? I do not know.

If we want to find an answer to that question then we will do some little comparism here by asking ourselves are the Americans complaining of failed attempts by Barack Obama to solve the countries woes as he saw from outside now that he is in charge of the state? Since Ghanaians were also made to vote for change alongside that of America, then let us ask ourselves what is going wrong?

If Americans are not complaining about any failed attempts by their incumbent president, then it means they are satisfied with the change they voted for so the question is are Ghanaians also satisfied with the change they voted for? If Ghanaians are not satisfied with the change they voted for then it means they did not do their home work well and have to wait till 2012 before given the next opportunity to do so.

Let the people use the next opportunity to do their home work well before electing a leader so that they will not complain like they are doing now.

End.