Nerves frazzled. Sleep lost. Patience tested at wrist-splitting proportions. A nation is election-fatigued. If you’re thinking that democracy is tough; that it takes forever to vote and count votes; that it costs too much money, energy and time; and that it is taxing on our emotions, then try dictatorship in which one son-of-a-gun issues decrees and terrifies the hellish life out of a nation! So, we will stick with democracy and the bonus of free speech.
As we extend the pangs of birthing a president through a second round of elections, four people are hereby awarded for Hooliganism, Pomposity, Courage and No-Nonsense. The citations are:
Hooliganism Award: For committing the most irresponsible act of hooliganism, the award goes to Koku Anyidoho, Head of Communications of Professor Mills’ campaign. At 3am, just 10 hours after the close of the polls, he issued a press release titled, “We shall tolerate no nonsense”. Anyidoho, a poster-child of the NDC, caused me to tremble when he taunted the nation with a temper tantrum. He was on a fury-venting rampage, oozing a load of crap and ugly sticks.
Anyidoho insulted our electoral process, challenging the integrity of the agency which we, in our collective wisdom, have chosen to conduct and determine the outcome of our elections. Through his action, he sought to incite the electorate by claiming that the NDC had won the elections. He also threatened Dr Afari-Gyan and by extension, this country. How such an act of low-cost textual hooliganism can erupt from the office of a potential president is in itself troubling. Anyidoho must therefore apologize to Ghana for threatening to hijack our electoral process.
Pomposity Award: Personality matters. Asamoah-Boateng, a poster-child of the NPP, sounds more like a piece of ugly cloth torn from the blue-book of military autocracy. He has the capacity to be dreadfully rude, arrogant and annoying, not caring a hoot about what anyone felt or thought. His utterances easily made enemies for himself and the government. No wonder his constituency voted him out. The Pomposity Award therefore goes to Asabee, unopposed.
Why President Kufuor should place such a character at the helm of affairs at the propaganda arm of his government, the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, is difficult to understand. Asabee was the worst face and voice of the NPP. It was as if the Kufuor administration lost its head and officially embraced the ridiculous arrogance for which Asabee is highly reputed.
At 51, Ghana has come of age and the voice of the people has become the voice of God. We might be desperately dirt-poor, half-baked literate, unapologetically unsophisticated, but don’t walk over us. The Day of Thumbs has come to symbolize the day we speak our truth to power quietly, boldly and clearly.
From the Anyidoho immature gangster-style press release to the Asabee posture of disrespect and arrogance, the two leading political parties have shown that they suffer from the cancers of forgetfulness and power-drunkenness. Not surprisingly, Ghana is bi-polar, split – sharply divided at the middle of the centre with the NDC and NPP on either side. Neither party is a movement. Both parties are nauseatingly arrogant, crooked, greedy, selfish and stuck in thievery, pomposity and hooliganism, forgetting that public office is about public service. Our political leaders have become neo-colonialists, and like chiefs, sit in state, expecting us to become beholden to them and address them as Honourables despite their dishonourableness.
Our country is polarized because neither the NPP nor NDC has a mandate to rule us. Fact: we are suspicious of their rhetoric and actions. The lessons from the Pomposity and Hooliganism Awards of Asabee and Anyidoho are testaments to the maturity of Ghanaians. These are some of the cautionary tales of national governance, with deep lessons. When we vote for anyone, we expect to be put at the centre, and benefit. Watching politicians and their cronies improve their lot while the majority of our people go hungry is unacceptable.
No-Nonsense Award: At the centre of these elections is the Electoral Commissioner, Afari-Gyan who, together with his team, carry Ghana’s democracy. They are the unsung heroes. Afari-Gyan, a little-man giant, chain-smokes “cancer-sticks” (cigarettes) to carry Ghana’s democracy on his back. Contrary to the annoyingly flamboyant posture of politicians, Afari-Gyan is simple in appearance, unassuming, and easily approachable, with no colourful frills to show off. He has a healthy sense of humour, with a unique ability to make fun of himself.
But don’t be fooled; he is no push- or walk-over. He is principled, firm, opinionated, direct and no-nonsense. He is sharp at the brain and brilliantly engages in rhetorical but almost insulting line of questioning, searching and challenging intelligent adults to find answers. He operates in a tunnel vision with sharp focus and with one agenda only: to get the job done, and done well.
Not surprisingly, he comes across as a man with dictatorial tendencies. Such tendencies tend to protect him from being bullied by manipulative politicians with conflicting and often selfish motives, and render him functional in our indirect and often lackadaisical culture. His unique personality makes him most suitable for the position. Anything less and this country would have degenerated into chaos. Little wonder that he can work with opposing political parties. So Afari-Gyan and his team win the No-Nonsense Award for successfully managing Ghana’s elections.
Courage Award: Samia Yaaba Nkrumah wins the Courage award. She came from no-where (almost) and with audacity, entered the mud of politics with shit-bombing and all. A pint-sized 48 year-old journalist with a surname to die for, Samia returned to Ghana tagged with daddy’s name and entered the Jomoro constituency by way of Half-Assini, the hometown of her gold-smith grandfather. The hearts of her people melted in unison, for the only daughter of Osagyefo Nkrumah. Although she ran on the ticket of the CPP which failed miserably in the elections, Yaaba is poised to become the Yaa Asantewa who has emerged to finally salvage her father’s name.
She has uprooted an old tree, Lee Ocran, whose wife, Sati Ocran, is a known close associate of Konadu Rawlings. That in itself is a great feat. Samia’s win makes me wanna cry. It has brought a certain touchy-feeling of nostalgia about our first president, as if to re-echo the phrase, “Nkrumah never dies.” So finally, out of the seed of Nkrumah, a fresh flower has bloomed to exude fragrance to counteract stench in parliament.
She’ll be one of 23 women in the next parliament, constituting a sorry 10% female minority. This in itself is a sad commentary on us as a people – that women, who constitute 50% plus majority of the population sit precariously on the fringes of society cooking and cleaning, while the male majority rules.
Footnotes: The tribal colouring in the results from the Volta Region is disturbing for national cohesion. Why should it be predictable that people from a certain tribe will consistently vote for a certain political party because its founder is one of their own?
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is commended for kicking out the political parties from the International Press Centre after the first night of the vote count. They were using what should be the safe haven of journalists as a place to trade ugly punches, drag journalists into their mud and by that, undermine hard-earned sane press freedom.
Joy FM redeemed the sorry image of Ghana’s electronic media (radio, TV and Internet) with passable election results coverage.
Email: dorisdartey@yahoo.com; Blog: dorisdartey.blogspot.com
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