Politics of age (Part one): The difference between age and vision

As a matter of fact, I was wondering the way and manner some Ghanaian politicians disregard our aged in the political arena as garbage. These misconceptions on the part of some Ghanaians who believe the aged have nothing up their sleeves to offer Mother Ghana and its good citizens, forgetting the fact that Ghana our beloved and only country was developed out of vision from our old visionaries who fought for our total independence from our colonial masters.

I must say that at this juncture, there is a vast difference between age and vision that is why free SHS policy in our 1992 Constitution was adopted by an old man Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo and a young man was captured as saying, “Se Kwaatre kwa se obema wo ntoma a, bisa ne din” and that free SHS can never be feasible. Thank God today the light has shined on Ghanaians and progressively we are going to have free SHS.

The issue of some politicians playing politics with ones age is a bad precedent to Ghana’s democracy and development. Old age is not a curse but a blessing. God valued the aged that is why Abraham in his old age was potent enough to bear a child whereas today so many strong and energetic men can’t bear a child. As Ghanaians, we all have a part to play towards the growth and development of mother Ghana. If we cannot get the best from the old and young, then it is not the fault of their ages. The fault is not in the old or young but in us. Politicians have not gathered the needed courage to nurture the young in education and facility of good breeding so how can they become good as youth or old citizen?

If I may ask, politicians who are saying the aged have nothing up their sleeves to offer when at all did they realize the old people don’t matter in Ghana’s governance? Is it because our late president was an old man that was why he died at the age of 68 years and he did not finish his four (4) year tenure of office? Death is no respecter of age whether young or old, when your time is up; it will lay its icy hands on you so the issue of age in our politics is irrelevant.

What young men cannot do, old men can do and do it better and perfect that is why there is an Akan saying that goes like “Se Panin ne fie a, due” it did not say woe to us if young men are not in our house. Is this not a clear indication that the elderly people matter most in all aspects of our life and for growth and development of Mother Ghana? After Ghana’s independence, we have had young men and old men governing the good people of Ghana and Ghanaians will agree with me that young men have had the greatest opportunity in terms of governing this country for forty-four (44) years as against thirteen (13) years of our old men and in terms of achievements and developments the aged stand out tall and I leave it for the good people of Ghana to make their own judgments with regards to their performances to the growth and development of our beloved country Ghana.

In soccer, football loving fans were accusing Manchester United and Chelsea FC and all of England for parading old players but same cannot be said about Arsenal FC and in the history of the Champion’s league, the Chelsea’s and Manchester’s have won the ultimate in Europe so youthful exuberance alone cannot make one successful in life. We have used these misconceptions to retire many good players whose great and rich experience could have gone a long way to help our football. TO BE CONTINUED

Part two

To the best of my knowledge, age is just a number. History has it that, young rascals and old fuddy – duddies. We have had a brilliant and impactful young hero like William Pitt of England. Today, we have Barrack Obama the president of USA who is relatively a youth yet is under siege as his policies and apparent bumbling are showing to be the wrong testament, although I strongly believe he will be successful in his new policies by injecting huge sums of money into the private sector to strengthen their financial problems that could eventually lead to retrenching many workers in the private sector. If he had relied on his youthful exuberance, he would have lost his popularity as the first Black African to be an American first gentleman. Obama’s success story lied in his vision to fully support the private sector that is the backbone of every country. That is what good leadership is all about, that is being able to create something out of nothing.

President Barrack Obama knew his government cannot create more jobs to accommodate retrenched workers that is why he thought it wise to inject huge sums of Dollars into the Private sector to salvage the situation. Can same be said by our young leaders who have led us or leading us today?

Looking at the performances of our old leaders from the Late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah down to Former President John Agyekum Kuffour you could see they had good vision for Mother Ghana and its good citizens that is why all their policies were eye marking and not earmarking. They made sure all Ghanaians will have a fair share of the national cake by building solid tarred road and not the gravel (Saapete) roads that will not last for a year.

We have Akosombo dam and many developmental projects done by Dr Kwame Nkrumah. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), School feeding which were implemented by former president John Agyekum Kuffour but we have a youth leader who under his care our economy is on a sick bed heading towards the theatre for surgical operation all because of mismanagement of the country’s natural resources. It looks as if mother Ghana is fetching water into a basket that is why we have had so many issues on SADA, GYEEDA and undeserved judgments debt paid to underserved people for no work done.

As philosophers have said, “youth is good and it is time for any extraordinary toil” also, it is time to learn and experiment, stumble and fall and rise again, the time to play sponge and take in life’s lessons. Old age is the time for wisdom, to translate experience into purpose. Lenin was young when he took over Russia.FDR was old when he took over USA and became one of the third greatest US presidents. Churchill was written off at the age of fifty-one (51) years at the House of Commons as a political obituary but he rose to become the greatest Briton of his century. James Monroe of USA was 73 as a president yet he supported the work of the American colonization society to create a home for freed African slaves in Liberia and Monrovia the capital of Liberia was named after him.

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of the Republic of South Africa in 1994, serving until 1999. A symbol of global peacemaking that won him a noble peace prize. We have so many African and world leaders whose ages are above 68 and are performing creditably with their little natural resources. A typical example is President Alhassane Quatara of La Cote D’ivoire.

Paul the apostle wrote in the Bible to Timothy “Let no man despise your youth.

Youth is eternal; it is also a moment of strength and idealism. But old age is also good. There is a Chinese proverb that goes like this “when I was old, I did not have the strength.” “We need both young and old in building the best and perfect Ghana. What Ghanaians need is someone who can rebuild or bring to life what is not functional and not I am young and born after 6th March, 1957. Someone might be old, but the resilience that old person will have, a 25year old man may have. Strength is God’s gift and not a guarantee for being young. Vision is what matters most in our politics and not age.