“And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shall not eat it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shall eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” Genesis chapter 3 vrs 17-19
I wonder how Ghanaians are going to celebrate this year’s yuletide. In no time they will start trooping to the big cities in search for none existing jobs. Those who are living in the villages are living from hand to mouth. And these are the same people who are jubilating because someone has won an election. Soon, very soon, the President-elect will start appointing his ministers. All those who would be appointed will be literates. Professors, lawyers, engineers, medical doctors etc will occupy positions but the truth is that no illiterate or Junior High School (JHS) graduate would be appointed as a minister.
Such graduates are not even fit to be employed as messengers in offices. And so when Nana Akufo-Addo mooted the idea of a free Senior High School (SHS), some of us thought our compatriots who are living in penury will seize the moment and vote for a free SHS. That was not to be. Because of poverty, these people received gifts ranging from clothes, deodorant to rice and shamelessly cast their votes for the giver.
We are unknowingly committing crime against humanity and posterity will not treat us kindly. If parents who were jubilating in the village I drove past had reasoned well they would have been weeping rather than jubilating for a winner who told them in the face that free SHS was not possible and that it would take 20years before these children could enjoy free education. The children of President Mahama are attending prestigious schools in Accra and overseas but the children of those jubilating are roaming the streets in the village. Sometimes I do not blame them because looking at their sorry state anyone can bribe them with a peanut to change their minds.
We have a long way to go as a nation. We lie to the citizenry in order to grab political power but when the time comes for us to keep our promises, we tell them different stories. When politicians want votes they traverse the land with sugar-coated words and when power is delivered to them, they turn their backs against these poor folks who have to wait for yet another four years before the opportunity will come their way.
And so, for the next four years, we are all going to live under a president who told us that his government will never endorse anything like free SHS. That means parents must gird up their loins and work hard to earn more in order to get enough to pay school fees. No one should complain when the children come home to demand school fees because we chose to vote against free SHS. ‘Kayayes’ should also be prepared to continue sleeping on pavements and kiosks because Ghanaians chose to vote for a president who did not endorse the building of hostels and skill training for them.
Dog chain sellers should also intensify their daily activities because Ghanaians voted against the creation of jobs for the teeming youth. As for teachers, the time is up for them to start buying cement to enable them to build their own houses before they go on pension because Ghanaians chose to vote for a president who did not endorse the building of houses for teachers who had been in the service for 10 years.
Farmers in the villages who trooped to the polling stations to vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) should not think anything new will come their way. They will continue to scratch the land with hoes and cutlasses. Indeed, they will continue to find it difficult to pay school fees of their wards who are in the SHS. Why not? Rich business women from Accra, Takoradi, Ho, Aflao and beyond will continue to come down and buy maize at give away prices when they start harvesting their maize. These business women have access to bank loans but, you, the farmers, might have not entered a banking hall in your miserable lives. And yet you are jubilating. The future of your children is bleak and has nothing good to write about and yet you have put powder on your head while jubilating for someone whose children boarded a plane to continue their education in the White Man’s country after the elections. And there you are, clad in NDC dirty T-shirt.
To The Supreme Court, We Must Go!
I do not belong to the schools of thought who think Nana should simply concede defeat and let bygones be bygones. The framers of the Constitution foresaw what would happen in future and inserted in it that any aggrieved candidate in any election in Ghana could go to the Supreme Court for a redress. If the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have strong evidence to prove that the election was doctored, then yours sincerely do not see why such evidence should not be presented to the Supreme Court for redress. The ruling of the Supreme Court could go a long way to discourage rigging in any future elections.
If the figures that have been announced by the EC happen to be bloated and the law says we should go for run-off or a defeat of the President, so be it. Cheating kills the soul of any contender in an election. After campaigning throughout the country, the voice of the people needs to be heard and heard well. Ghanaians must thank God for small mercies. If the naked robbery which took place on December 7 had happened in a country like Kenya and Ivory Coast, blood would have flowed and heads would have rolled. Indeed, if the EC could shamelessly condone and connive with a political party to steal power, the possibility is that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana could as well condone and connive with the President to steal our money. With all these fine brains at the Supreme Court, I have the belief that justice would be done. And so Supreme Court, here we come, seeking nothing but justice in the name of the law.