Our democracy is wobbling on its head… (Part II)

By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
Saturday, March 14, 2015
The situation in Ghana over the years, especially since the emergence of this 4th Republic, has confirmed that this democracy is designed to serve the large interests and self-acquisitive purposes of the wily, slimy politicians and not those whose sweat, labour, and toil generates the wealth to sustain that kind of run-away, reckless politics.
And for the sake of political expediency, anything bothering on ethnicity can be used by such unconscionable politicians to divide ranks. Don't ask me why. Beyond it all are the real problems that are often glossed over just because those paying the piper are doing overtime. Too bad!!
In our time, we have real problems to contend with but cannot succeed under this atmosphere. The fixation on "Dumsor" seems to have paralyzed everything and everybody; but we can go beyond that crisis to dig deep down.
Ghana is still tottering because Ghanaians are the architects of that deplorable state of affairs. No outsider can know Ghana better than Ghanaians should do; and no outsider has the ultimate solution to lift Ghana and its citizens out of the death-trap that they have pushed themselves into because of their unproductive attitude toward tackling existential issues. Neither will God care about such problems of existence, which is why all the noise being made by the so-called "Men-of-God" ends up compounding such problems.
Many happenings over the past few days have confirmed my poor opinion of Ghana's bogus democracy that reinforces mediocrity and empty political rhetoric to pave the way for those with adroit skills to fleece the economy. And they are adept at pulling strings to advantage.
The Woyome case has just been laid to rest, giving credence to the adage that those who know how to wash their hands will dine with kings/queens (the cream of society). I clearly stated my abject disgust for the Woyome fraud and will not water it down here now that all my apprehensions have been confirmed.
But that confirmation has set in motion many other episodes to prove that the kind of democracy that is being practised in Ghana is a shortcut to national disaster.
Folks, if you have been closely monitoring how the NPP people take on the government and how the government easily wriggles itself out of the tight corner into which the empty political rhetoric pushes it on and off, you shouldn't be surprised that nothing is working well in Ghana. For all it does, the NPP doesn't come across as credible either; it only latches on to mishaps and mis-steps to proclaim its redeemer status to a Ghanaian populace that knows it better than it knows itself.
In any case, though, Ghanaians know that it is the Mahama-led administration that has their mandate to solve existential problems. But there is too much bumbling and fumbling by the government, which intensifies their woes.
And the situation will worsen for as long as the system encourages mediocrity. Unfortunately, the wheel is grinding to a painful juncture. Those who put in everything to sustain Ghana must be chafing now that they have no access to the corridors of power and cannot pick up the pieces that they left behind for their successors. They cannot go back to undo the harm that their own mis-steps inflicted. All that they complain about fits into the agenda of a painful after-thought that no Ghanaian who knows what happened under their watch will buy into. Pathetic!!
I don't blame Rawlings and Kufuor for baring their teeth at Mahama, even if they are complicit in the perpetration of the rot that is fast denigrating their legacy. Blame or praise them all you wish to do, these two surviving Ghanaian leaders can best tell us why they knew what the country's problems were but couldn't solve them to prevent what we are subjected to today.
To John Mahama and his administration, the woods and the forest are the same. So is it for Akufo-Addo and his loquacious NPP camp that is more invested in finding fault (even where there is none) than offering anything substantial to solve problems). Ghana can never be moved out of the doldrums with this kind of lame-duck posture.
Given this already damning and disheartening circumstance, one would hardly imagine that the very foundation of local governance in Ghana that has over the years seemed to empower the citizens will begin all too soon being undermined. But that is what has been set in motion to further complicate governance problems.
Matters began with the Electoral Commission's decision to hold district-level elections so the various structures supporting the three-tier system of governance could be nourished to sustain a workable Parliamentary democracy. Unfortunately, the apex (Parliament) itself is so ridiculously useless as not to warrant any analysis; but because it depends on the lower-level structures, it must be considered within the context of the danger that looms.
That danger has been stoked by the Supreme Court, which ruled against the EC, meaning that the district-level elections cannot be held to bring in new elements for local governance. More than 137 million Cedis has already been spent by the EC to prepare for the elections.
With this "voiding and nullification" of the elections, the country stands to face more political crisis. How can it survive (especially with some of the anti-Mahama elements wishing and manouevring for a military coup---as if they don't know the harm that the military political toads have already done to Ghana)?
Responding to the crisis, Mr. Edwin Nii Vandepuye, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has issued a directive to all Regional Ministers "to remind all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and all Unit Committees in their regions that their tenure ends today March 14, 2015". (See
(https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomeP…/NewsArchive/artikel.php… to form your own opinions)
.
Scary!! A dangerous vacuum being created? What is the Supreme Court wishing for Ghana?
Let us cut everything short. The truth, is that the problems emerging at this local government level will add to others already proving to be too intractable for the government and its critics. These problems will calcify and create fertile conditions for anti-government and anti-Ghana orchestrations.
At the end of the day, nothing will work well to move the country forward, whether it is the NDC, the NPP or any of the mushroom political parties that is put in office. Is that what Ghana deserves in this 21st century?
And why is it so easy for those adroit at knocking heads together to succeed in their wily ways to the disadvantage of the vast majority of Ghanaians? More food for thought!!
I shall return…
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