The politics of age - Do Ghanaians care?

As the opposition NDC is preparing to go for Presidential primaries, many have sought to introduce the idea of age as an attempt to discredit older challengers of the status quo such as Dr. Kwabena Duffuor against John Dramani Mahama with someone even naively suggesting that they have no problems with Kojo Bonsu contesting with John Mahama because he is younger. This is such a porous and bogus argument that lacks merit at its face value.

It is a recycled argument that has been twice rejected by Ghanaians in the last two general elections when a so-called younger John Mahama contested against an older Nana Akufo Addo.

Ghanaians voted for a younger John Mahama in 2012 with high hopes but after a disappointing four years, they realized age is just a number, and there is more to leadership and therefore voted him out in 2016 and replaced him with an older leader because JM’s young leadership did not produce the desired results. His younger age did not contribute to his leadership abilities.

In 2020, Ghanaians again retained an older President against a younger John Mahama simply because they knew that despite his younger age, he was incapable of providing better alternative leadership.

In any case, in which society do they describe a 64-year-old man way above the universal retirement age as a young man? Or did the supporters of John Mahama forget his age?

If there is any lesson to learn from the past three general elections in Ghana, it is that Ghanaians vote for whoever they deem credible to lead them in every election cycle regardless of the age of the candidate on the ticket.

If anything at all, Ghanaians vote for the political party that they find more credible at every material time rather than the age of the candidate leading the party.

Unfortunately, it appears that some NDC members, especially those supporting John Mahama as candidate for the 2024 general elections, have not learnt this lesson. They now assume that although Ghanaians rejected John Mahama twice in the last two elections despite him being much younger during those elections, they will suddenly find his comparatively younger age more appealing in the next general elections. Besides, the two likely candidates of the NPP, Vice President Mahmoud Bawumia and Alan Kyeremanteng are 59 and 67 respectively. Should Ghanaians vote for Dr. Bawumia in 2024 simply because he’s the youngest candidate even if he’s the most incompetent?

John Mahama supporters have completely ignored his proven leadership inability over the years.

That aside, let’s go into the argument of age. Going into elections and governing after elections is like the art of psychological war. The real general is the one who sees ‘both beyond and behind’ political affairs and, when deciding upon a course of action, remains untroubled by any emotion.

Older politicians are more emotionally intelligent than relatively younger ones.

We know many Ghanaians who voted twice against John Mahama because of his “yen tie obia” and “I am a dead goat” comments which were largely driven by his uncontrolled ego.

Old age blunts some of these inordinate desires so that elders can apply sober and stable reasoning to their thinking, speaking and acting.

Election or governance is not a physical war otherwise we would have said it suits the young and vigorous with physical muscles. Even then those with physical muscles require, on the battlefield, the leadership of those with mental muscles.

In governance, we do not demand deeds of the feet or hands from political servants, but rather deeds of counsel, foresight, and speech. And we do not look for speeches that create an uproar among the people or mere noise, such as the “Ghanaians have a short memory” or “I have a dead goat syndrome” infamous speeches of John Mahama but speeches that consist of sense, wise judgment, and stability.

In the context of these sorts of deeds, the derided old age appear as witnesses to experience, and they collaborate in making a person persuasive and impute a reputation for character.

Let me educate those arguing older age as a disadvantage in leadership that it’s rather a huge advantage recognized and constitutionally enshrined by the ancient democracies and Western civilizations from whom we copy our model of democracy.

For example, the council of Romans is to this day called the “senate” [from senex, the Latin phrase for “old man”.

There must be a good reason for ancient Romans to put older politicians at the apex of their governments. The Americans are doing the same. What is it that we in Ghana or the NDC in particular know about governance that the Americans do not know?

Politics is a way of life for a tamed, political, and social animal, one that by its nature must live its whole life interacting with its fellow citizens, pursuing what is good, and caring for humankind. This is why the older one gets as a politician, the more useful they become for their nations.

Therefore, it is proper for us to be engaged in politics continuously and not simply to have been engaged in politics in the past.

The skills that older politicians like Dr. Kwabena Duffuor acquire through habit are good counsel and wisdom and justice, and, in addition, experience, which allows them to select the right moments and words. This experience, in turn, gives them the ability to be persuasive.

These skills are maintained by constantly speaking, acting, reasoning, and judging about those matters that affect people’s well-being and their environment, and it is a terrible thing if, having retired from such activities in private life, one allows such great and numerous virtues to seep out of the soul while they are still physically and mentally strong.

Indeed, the candidate’s concern for others and sense of community are more important to an electorate who does not want these virtues to waste away in accomplished politicians.

To those who fail to see the advantages of older aged politicians, will you ever say to the Ashantehene “ Now that you’re older, it’s time to set aside the crown and leave behind the oracle on account of old age?” I guess you will say “the older the wine the better the taste in such traditional matters. Why then do you see it differently when it comes to the Presidency?

Besides, do we as a people not abhor those who are in their prime, if they take upon themselves practically the sole heir of public business and wish not to ever yield their former positions to anyone else?

Don’t we see that In this way, people like John Mahama act and behave like this because of their insatiable desire for glory or their envy of anyone who in any way shares some honor or power in the party or country?

Our nation does not only lay claim to our hands, feet, and bodily vigour, but above all, it possesses our souls and the beauty that our souls contain, namely justice, self-control, and practical wisdom.

These qualities develop late and slowly, and so it makes no sense that they should benefit our individual families, fields of endeavor, and other property and possessions, but no longer be of service to our country and fellow citizens merely on account of their age.

For advanced age does not deprive us of the ability to serve so much as it augments our ability to lead and to practice politics.

In any case, looking at the physical and mental outlook of Dr. Kwabena Duffuor at his present age, he might even have a cleaner health bill than John Mahama if we were to ask them both to publish their health records - which is what we should indeed be doing as a party if we claim to be a progressive party looking for a healthy leadership.

And before anyone compares the successful Dr. Kwabena Duffuor to a failed older President Nana Akufo Addo, let them be reminded that President Akufo Addo unlike Dr. Duffuor has no record of professional business accomplishments spanning decades of his life and he belongs to a political party, the NPP that careless about the people and more about the few elites.

Dr. Kwabena Duffuor will be guided by not only by his personal love and concern for the people but also by the NDC’s people-centered social democratic values to succeed as President.