GHANA’S POLITICIANS MUST WISE UP

Something important is happening in British politics.

Andy Burnham, the new Labour leader, has admitted that his generation of politicians, including himself, failed to challenge a political culture and economic model that were not working well enough for ordinary people. From the opposite side, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also declared that people are fed up with the usual style of politics and that politicians must get serious.

They disagree on ideology, but they have reached the same uncomfortable conclusion:

Politics as usual is failing ordinary people.

Ghana’s politicians should listen carefully.

In Ghana, politics has become an industry that mainly benefits politicians. It produces ministers, deputies, advisers, board members, protocol officers, contractors, communicators, television panelists and social media celebrities.

For the ordinary citizen, it produces speeches.

Our politicians spend their days attacking one another, defending failure, explaining incompetence and blaming predecessors. Every morning begins with an accusation. By afternoon, there is a rebuttal. In the evening, party representatives gather on television to shout over one another.

The next day, the same useless circus resumes.

Meanwhile, the trader is drowning in taxes and levies. The graduate is unemployed. The farmer cannot reach the market. The entrepreneur is being strangled by permits, arbitrary fees and hostile public officials. Hospitals struggle. Roads deteriorate. Schools decay.

But the politicians are doing very well.

They travel in convoys through the potholes they failed to repair. They receive fuel allowances while citizens struggle to buy fuel. They enjoy official accommodation while workers cannot pay rent. They receive medical care abroad after failing to fix hospitals at home.

Then they return to lecture the suffering public about sacrifice.

Ghanaian politics has become a protection scheme for the political class.

The parties fight bitterly in public, but the political establishment quietly protects itself. Governments change, colours change and slogans change, but the privileges remain.

The citizen is invited to vote, clap, insult strangers online and defend politicians who would not recognise them at the airport.

The unemployed graduate does not need another party press conference. The market woman does not care which government first borrowed the money. The small business owner does not need a lecture on macroeconomic terminology.

They want jobs, affordable food, reliable electricity, functioning roads, accessible healthcare and public institutions that assist rather than torment them.

Politicians must stop behaving as though winning arguments is the same as governing a country.

A pothole has no party card.

Hunger has no political colour.

Unemployment does not become less painful because the previous government also failed.

Ghana needs fewer political performers and more problem solvers. Fewer slogans and more measurable targets. Fewer convoys and more completed roads. Fewer conferences and more functioning factories.

Britain’s political leaders are beginning to recognise that voters are exhausted by political theatre. Ghana’s politicians can wise up voluntarily, or the public will eventually wise up without them.

Politics was created to improve society.

In Ghana, society appears to have been created to sustain politicians.

That must end.

 

By Kwame Sowu

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The author, Kwame Sowu Jnr, is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in business and leadership. He is a former Chairman of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. Kwame is a hospitality investor with thriving businesses across the regions.