At long last, December 7, 2024 has caught up with us and the demand is that every law-abiding citizen must go to the polling station to cast his or her vote peacefully to elect the next government. There are some Ghanaians who have made up their minds not to vote for some unexplained reasons – some personal, some tribal, some political, and many others. Whatever be their conviction not to vote, let me caution those with that mentality to give it a second thought.
The reason is simple – whether you decide to vote or not, the December 7 date line will not be changed, and you will not have the opportunity to vote again until the next four years. Meanwhile your failure to vote may impose a government whose policies may impoverish you for the next four years and you will have no alternative but to endure it.
As we progress as a nation, elections have been established all over the world as one of the civilised and accepted political processes in many countries to elect a government. Elections cannot be eradicated from the political journey of many countries in the world. The problem is that no system is perfect, democracy, authoritarian, monarchy, totalitarian and hybrid.
The two main categories are the democratic and autocratic. Autocratic regimes can be further divided into dictatorial, totalitarian, monarchic and oligarchic. Whatever system that is in place, an election is one way to test the popularity of a regime, and many governments who don’t believe in the process, even use the system to feign some form of support to legitimise their regimes.
Governments must rule in the belief that they have the support of most of their people, and this can only be determined by the due process of an election. Elections must, therefore, be seen as a peaceful process to establish a government of the people. One cannot seek the mandate of the people if it has no policies to alleviate their suffering.
Therefore, campaigns preceding elections cover issues that need to be dealt with by a party if elected to office. Elections must, therefore, not be viewed with hatred but must be seen as one genuine process of debating contesting issues to governance which must receive the support of the people.
Today, the fact of the matter is that of the 12 presidential candidates, only the NPP and the NDC are the two serious contestants for the presidency. The two other parties whose participation could be viewed with a little seriousness are the Butterfly Movement and the New Force led by Nana Kwame Bediako.
Currently, however, I think the Butterfly Movement, is not considered a serious party and has been written off by many Ghanaians. The leadership’s recent attacks on former President Agyekum Kufuor have worsened its position and badly exposed him as a man who has overestimated his popularity in the NPP.
The backlash of his comments on ex-President Kufuor’s support for Dr. Bawumia has seriously depleted some votes of disgruntled elements in the NPP who might have cast their votes for him. Recently published opinion polls on his performance, is nothing worth discussing. Nana Kwame Bediako will surely occupy the third position but will not secure enough votes for the presidency.
Consequently, the battle that remains is between Dr. Bawumia and ex-President Mahama, and having listened to the arguments they have put up over the period, let me crystalise three main areas for the electorate to cast their votes.
Dr. Bawumia has promised to turn the Ghanaian economy from informal to formal sector using digitalisation as the platform. He has promised to minimise corruption by removing human involvement in the administrative processes of governance through digitalisation and many examples of his deeds are there for all to see.
The education of our youth heavily depends on the implementation of the Free SHS to its full potential, and Dr. Bawumia has pledged to see to its full implementation. On agriculture, he has promised to make it the prime policy of his administration. As a result, mechanisation of the agricultural sector of the economy will receive massive injections of funds and resources.
He has promised to implement this programme using the districts set up as the foundation. Consequently, agricultural implements in the form of machinery, technical know-how, human resources, and financial support would be made available to make mechanisation a reality.
The ex-President on the other hand promises to introduce the 24-hour economy to create jobs for the youth. Through this policy, farmers will be encouraged to farm at night and interested farmers will be provided with electricity to enable them pursue their vocation. He has also explained that through the 24-hour economy policy, disco nights will receive further boost as many Ghanaians will enjoy the night life with a difference.
He has promised to establish new zoos with elephants, tigers, lions and many other wild animals. In addition, all Ghanaians who want to pursue poultry farming, under the “nokoko nkitinkiti” policy, will be given maximum support by providing them with the coops, day-old chicks, feed, medication and all that is required to make the policy a success.
The NDC has garnished its campaign messages with hatred and direct insult on the personality of Dr. Bawumia, never experienced in the past political campaigns.Why so much hatred for Dr. Bawumia? It is very difficult to understand their motive. Since Dr. Bawumia appeared in the Ghanaian political scene, he has proven to be a man of integrity, honesty, incorruptible, hardworking and above all, very humble.
These qualities have put him on a high pedestal but that seems to hurt the sensitivities of his opponents and instead of them emulating his examples, they have chosen the short path because it takes years to establish such credibility.
The sad reality is that Ghanaians know the ex-President during his Vice and Presidential days, and can recall so many happenings which fell short of presidential qualities and when it comes to comparing the two characters, many Ghanaians need no schooling and that is the reason why his followers have decided to throw dirt on Dr. Bawumia to make him look dirtier than their uncouth angel.
Come to think of corruption and there is nothing you can say about Dr. Bawumia, but talk about “ogyam” and at least one. One can readily recall the Ford expedition vehicle from the Burkina Faso contractor and the Airbus scandals.
There are many Ghanaians who are still not happy about the demise of late President Mills and the rumours surrounding his death. Many do not exonerate “ogyam” completely and allowing him to occupy the high office once again will be a bad omen. Unfortunately, there are some Ghanaians following the ex-President who think painting Dr. Bawumia black is the only solution to their problems, but it will not work.
Yes, every voter can decide what to do with his or her vote but voting for some of the thirteen presidential candidates would be a waste of your vote. I have repeatedly written that in Ghana, the most important person to vote for in general election is the President because almost all powers of state have been invested in the Presidency by the Constitution.
The personality and character of the person we elect to office is the most important and not the political party. Consequently, in the presidential elections, the candidate with good credentials is the person to elect and not necessarily the political party he belongs to. The second most important thing is what the presidential candidate stands for, his character, humility and respect he has for Ghanaians. The last but not the least is the love and commitment he has for this country.
Many people are being deceived by the various misinformation from social media and many media houses that have been bought or bribed by the NDC to spread false information. The electorate must note that all uncompleted projects by the NPP will be discontinued if the NDC wins the election. In effect, all district hospitals, one district one factory projects, massive infrastructural development on the rail transportation, many kilometres of road constructions, Free SHS and many others will be abandoned.
As for Free SHS, it is the first major programme that will be guillotined because of the hatred the NDC has developed for the programme. It is opined that the hatred stems from the huge money being spent, and NDC needs that money badly for its programmes, especially “create loot and share” programmes.
Ghana will never be the same if the NDC wins the next election. It is, therefore, very important for all Ghanaians who want the progress of this country to vote for Dr. Bawumia as President of Ghana. Casting your vote alone is not enough, convince others to join you to make Dr. Bawumia’s victory a certainty.
Vote for Dr. Bawumia, for the prosperity of Ghana and you would have played your part.
Brig-Gen (Rtd) J. Odei