Alfred Woyome
Unlike my inflexible maternal uncle Oliver, my uneducated, albeit reflective thinking mum, has undergone a carefully considered reflection and graciously detached herself from the NDC Party.
I recall prior to the 2016 general elections, I had an interesting telephone conversation with my mother about politics and socio-economic standards of living in Ghana.
In fact, at no point in time during our interesting conversation that my mother indicated her willingness to detach herself from her unbridled loyalty to the NDC Party.
It, therefore, came as a surprise to me when my mother confided in me recently that she has ceased being a die-hard supporter of the NDC Party.
Wonders shall never end, they say. In fact, I never envisioned for a minute that my mother could one day cease being a brassbound supporter of the NDC Party.
And what was her excuse for detaching herself from the Umbrella?
According to my mother, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the panorama of sleazes and corruption which took place under the erstwhile NDC administration and the pragmatic implementation of the poverty reduction free SHS by the Akufo-Addo’s government.
Our 2016 telephone conversation went like this:
“How are you keeping mum?” I enquired.
“Eiiiiii, Kwaku, it has become extremely hard here ooooo!” mum retorted.
“The ‘dumsor’ is not going away, prices of goods are on the high and your brothers and sisters businesses aren’t flourishing at all”. She added.
“I know Mum; I noticed all the hardships when I visited Ghana in March 2016; have my sympathy once again”. I replied.
“Many thanks for showing concern, Kwaku; are you also experiencing dumsor over there in London?” She quizzed.
“Dumsor? No Mum. I have not witnessed a single dumsor since I have been in the United Kingdom”. I responded.
“Really? Do you mean for the last three decades you’ve been in the United Kingdom there has not been a single dumsor?” Mum queried.
“Yes Mum; we do not have dumsor timetable here”. I answered.
“Your President is doing well then; do you normally vote for him?” She posed.
“Yes Mum, our Prime Minister is performing alright. And to answer your follow up question, I do not normally vote for the Conservatives because I do not subscribe to their campaign messages”. I indicated.
“But your Prime Minister is doing fantastically well, so what all the farce about campaign messages?” She wondered.
“Mum, you don’t vote for the sake of voting; you weigh all the campaign promises before giving away your mandate”. I explained briefly.
“Let me tell you Mum, I did not even vote for my MP (Kwesi Kwarteng) who belongs to the Conservative Party and has Ghanaian parents”. I declared.
“Let me inform you once again Mum, although I am one of the king makers in the Labour Party’s leadership race by virtue of my Trade Union membership, I will probably vote for the incumbent Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May in the next general election because of her unparalleled credibility”. I maintained.
“Really? “As for me four years ago I chose that tall and handsome guy”. Mum disclosed.
“Do you mean President Mahama?” I enquired blissfully.
“Yes, I voted for him because of his handsome looks and I like the Umbrella”. She disclosed boldly.
“Hmm, Mum, why are you then moaning now over all the hardships? Didn’t you choose handsome looks over competence?” I asked in amazement.
“But I also chose handsome President Kufuor over Atta Mills”. She pointed out.
“Well, Mum, competence does not reside in ones stature”. I indicated.
“But President Kufuor was tall, handsome and extremely competent”. She stated.
“You are right Mum. But you are also aware that we have useless tall and handsome individuals around”. I responded.
“For example, the biblical Goliath was also tall and handsome but was useless, for it took the midget, competent and intelligent David to floor him”. I added.
“Well, Kwaku, so what is your point now?” Mum asked frankly.
“Mum, my point is we don’t vote for handsome looks, we rather vote for competence, integrity and realistic campaign messages, for handsome looks won’t solve all the problems such as dumsor and the ever sinking economy”. I retorted.
“Well, Kwaku, I’ve got your message and I will think about it”. Mum declared.
Apparently, my mother did not detach herself from her handsome Mahama and beloved NDC during the 2016 election until recently. She has indeed seen the real light and has promised not to look back.
