New years are momentous occasions in both the individual and the nation’s lives. In our case, we have hopped into an election year, a campaign season during which so many things — good and bad, truth and lies — happen.
The democratic process of choosing the political leadership and for that matter direction of the nation matters a lot, especially when for some power at all cost is the bottom line.
Individuals who constitute the membership of political parties through which governments are birthed engage in wooing activities by narrating stories about their achievements and what they can do when they are elected.
In the course of this enterprise, maligning opponents and even promising Manna from heaven by those eyeing the highest office of the land become commonplace.
As for political sermons about the need to steer away from such negatives, they struggle for space with the character assassination and lies agenda by a section of the political aisle.
Things can get so bad that some would rather democracy is not the option for us. Regardless of the drawbacks, nonetheless democracy remains unbeatable and would remain so till the end of time. It has stood the test of time and the so-called socialist or even communist claim to be democratic and in some instances altering their previous totalitarian systems by incorporating aspects of democracy. This way they expect to win some deference in the comity of the civilized nations.
As we grow in our practice of democracy, it is expected that we would mend our bad ways as we play this complex yet desirable game of politics. Avoiding acts which only raise the political temperature unduly should not be the best way to sharpen our political skills but make politics appealing to those who dread the dirty segments of the game.
We are on the threshold of a fresh New Year and a new decade, both of which auspiciously are underpinning our presidential and parliamentary polls.
It is our desire and prayer that politicians and those they are in the occupation to serve will play by the rules this being a New Year and the elections crucial to the fate of our country.
With the issuance of national identification cards to citizens of the country and for that matter the creation of a data base for Ghanaians, a novelty, and the Electoral Commission (EC) under its new management intent on introducing hi-tech in their operations this year must be of interest to all of us.
May the good Lord continue to be with us as we take our first steps into the New Year so that the bad ways of previous years perpetrated by desperate politicians will give way to that sincere patriotic spirit, an attribute upon which prosperous nations are built.