28 December 2008 Presidential Elections

On 28 December, Ghanaians will choose their President for the next four years. It is a franchised choice for the person they reckon will enhance the way they live, move and have their being in the world. It is a choice based on the philosophy of the political party the individual represents. As such, it is not a choice based on emotional calculations. Emotions do not, and cannot, rule nations. The choice is based on careful analysis of the potential of the individual presidential aspirant to bring that way of life into fruition, grounded on the empirical (not anecdotal) state of the economy vis-à-vis the world economy.

The choice in the current situation is between Nana Akuffo-Addo of the NPP and Prof. Atta Mills of the NDC. In order to appreciate the potential of these two aspirants, it is critically important to descend into the political philosophy of the parties that they represent, not their personalities. The bedrock philosophy of the NPP about the political-economy of Ghana is “property owning democracy”. That of the NDC has not been explicitly articulated. Prof Atta-Mills postulates it as ‘welfarism and people-centred’ without explicating it, but could be generally labelled as “social democracy”. The fact is that there is no civilian government on the face of the earth that is not people-centred (i.e. not for the welfare of the populace). It is quite clear that the NPP philosophy allows (i.e. frees) Ghanaians to own their property in a democratic and lawful way, whereas for the NDC, your property is a ‘social’ property (in the sense that it belongs to, and, is for the use of the society at large). Socialist/Communist governments (such as Russia and China) have all come to realise the strategic importance of freeing the human potential for economic emancipation. My brothers and sisters, this is where the choice for the next President lies: Do you want to vote for a President whose philosophy will allow you (i.e. free you) to engage in your business/property in your own way, legally and democratically OR do you want to vote for a President whose philosophy will control (i.e. stifle) your business/property potential? The choice is yours.

I have heard and read about the much touted slogan of ‘YERESESAMU’ doing the rounds on the campaign trails by the NDC. Of course, all elections everywhere in the world are meant for ‘yeresesamu’ (CHANGE). But, the underlying bedrock question is: what kind of ‘yeresesamu’ (change)? It appears to me that, based on the political philosophies of the two main parties, the NPP’s ‘yeresesamu’ is to deepen and widen the democratic, economic, social and legal institutions in Ghana that will ensure a broader spectrum of the development of ‘property owning democratic’ populace in Ghana. On the other hand, the NDC’s ‘yeresesamu’, appears to be the direct opposite, to initiate state control mechanisms over the democratic, economic, social and legal institutions in Ghana. There are fundamental weaknesses and dangers inherent in both philosophies, which the short space here does not allow me to expand and explicate.

The crucial point of this article, however, is that the choice of the President is not based on personal, emotional calculations. This is because whether we like it or not the President can never please every individual citizen in the country. The choice is rather based on the philosophies of the two main parties (NPP & NDC). I believe that what we as Ghanaians do not want, will not want, and can never accept in our lives, is a situation where there is some ‘power’ behind you that will or can slap you, whip your ‘backside’, intimidate you to kowtow or tow its line or ultimately kill you if need be, against your God-given birth right freedom as a human being. An interesting, but definitive indicator of the mentality of the NDC is that when they appear to be on a winning side (as happened in the Parliamentary elections), there is no vote rigging by the NPP. They are praised by their leadership as having been ‘vigilant’. But, when they begin to sense defeat as happened in the massive turnout of special voters (presumably pro-NPP) in the Presidential runoff, then they start to accuse the NPP of vote rigging. But why? The simple answer is that: it is an inherent philosophy of intimidation propagated by the NDC. This kind of mentality should never be encouraged by Ghanaians, as it only germinates chaos and insecurity in the country.

For me, the NPP with its Presidential candidate, Nana Akuffo-Addo, is the better credible choice to vote for.

Mema mo nyinaa afenhyia pa. God bless Ghana.

Jesse Ofirikyi