Kobina Ansah is a Ghanaian playwright
Back in high school, we had a cunning senior called DJ Sparoo. Senior Sparoo was the definition of stinginess. He was the only one who could eat his food, keep the rest in his chop box, and eat it the next day even when it had gone bad. As though that was not enough, he would count the number of grains of gari he lent to us and take back a double of such whenever he was taking it back.
Surprisingly, he went out of his way to freely share the content of his chop box with some of us during a certain period of the term. This period was when our parents were due to visit us in a few days. Whatever Senior Sparoo gave was meant to be taken back at a later period… often after our parents had visited and most of us had restocked our chop boxes.
Every election season reminds me of DJ Sparoo. It reminds me of people who give so much now with the intention of taking so much later. Every election season is one where all our politicians become so generous all of a sudden. They won’t mind sharing their hearts with us because… they know what they stand to gain after all.
If you rob people with arms, it is called armed robbery. Unfortunately, if you rob people with promises, it is called politics. It is so sad how politics has brought this beautiful country to its knees. Just imagine how far we have been able to come despite all the resources God has blessed us with. In this 21st century, many of us are still grappling with basic amenities.
Wherever there is greed, enough is never enough. There is always a mouth to feed despite the abundance wherever greed is king. See how far greed has brought us as a nation today! Another election is a few months away. Our politicians are trekking the length and breadth of this nation with party manifestoes that can raise the dead. Promises are flying all over our heads day in and out.
Of course, politicians and promises are inseparable. Some of them can promise so
much that they even forget their promises. While some are promising to take us on an excursion to Heaven every month if we vote for them, others are already making life a hell for us every month.
Election seasons don’t only come with promises. Politicians are giving us free lunches some of which come in the form of fat envelopes, sewing machines, and bicycles among others. If someone needs to entice you with a free lunch to vote for them, it simply points to the fact that they are not in to solve your problems. Mind you, politics is not philanthropy. No one has so much money to dole out during campaigns.
There is no free lunch anywhere, and this should be your caution as you walk through life. When people are spending so much to win a mere position, you must wonder what it is about that position that would make any sane person go to any length to get it. Anything free has been paid for. It is up to you to know who paid for your free lunch.
For every free lunch, remember you will pay later or somebody else will pay now. This has been the bane of Ghanaian voters, unfortunately. We keep receiving our supposed free lunches without asking who is paying for such. Well, the ugly galamsey is paying for such. The over-bloated government expenditures are paying for such. What was given to us before the election is taken back after the election.
As we draw near to the day of choosing our political leaders, be careful of people who promise you free things. Sometimes, we pay back these freebies with unemployment. We pay back with poorly constructed roads because the rest of the funds are diverted elsewhere. We end up with a poorly managed economy where inflation is running at the speed of light!
Politics today has become an investment. It is no more about who can solve our problems. It is about who can give us the fattest cheque to convince us to vote for them. When people pay you to vote for them, never think you have outsmarted them. When they win power, it is you they will outsmart.
If politics is reduced to vote buying, a nation’s resources are traded as a business. When we vote for those who pay us the most, we conspire as a people to bring into power corrupt people who will only make sure to take back everything they invested to get power. The free lunch a politician gives you is a lunch you will pay with your sweat and blood when they come into power!
Arise Ghanaians! Before you take the envelopes of cash from the politicians, dare to ask them whose money it is. Be mentally awoken, Ghanaians! Before you fall for the gifts of politicians today, remember you may be gifting them your future tomorrow. You may be shortchanging yourself and your future generations by handing over the destiny of posterity!
Pay attention to how bad things have gone. Keenly observe how every system in our society ─from sports to health ─ is falling apart. Today, having a decent job after graduation has also become a prayer topic. That is the price a nation pays when it leaves its glorious destiny in the hands of greedy hands. Enough resources will never be enough!
Like Senior Sparoo, there is no free lunch in the kitchen of the politician. As you munch that supposed free lunch you have been served, know that you may only be munching away your future. The politician may have given you something that is of little worth but trust me, they will take back everything you have in return. When a stingy man like DJ Sparoo gives you an expensive gift, you should know it could be everything but a free lunch.
