Ghana's Destiny in Fragile Hands!

Her Appointment was shrouded in controversy. Many including me were sceptical of her appropriateness for this high position. In my case I thought and still think she is too young and too inexperienced for this most sensitive position in Ghana – the Chair of Electoral Commission.

This position, this responsibility, is in my view the most sensitive and most important position in Ghana. The President can decide to be stubborn, insensitive and even reckless – and he has been – as for example in the cases of blunting President John Atta-Mills wish for true decentralisation of local governance through open and universal election of district chief executives (DCEs). This was one of the cardinal reasons the late president set up the Constitutional Review Committee. And Ghanaians overwhelmingly expressed their desire for universal election of DCEs as he sensed and expected. But come John Mahama, and the clock was reset several hours backwards, throwing at Ghanaians a sham alternative that surreptitiously retains district decision of their choice of governor firmly in the hands of his political party with the Government White Paper which sets aside the wish of the people and imposes that of government whereby five candidates are to be nominated for one to be voted for. Is this policy not a fraud on the people? Who will nominate the five candidates; is it not by his political reps in the districts? That seems obvious, as no alternative open mechanism has been announced.

And how is John Manama insensitive and even reckless? The commandeering of state equipment to his brother for the dredging of the Odow River in Accra is something that takes a stubbornly strong and even reckless heart to decide. These hosts of equipment acquired by the Local Government and Rural Development Ministry on behalf of district assemblies should never have been released to the president’s brother for the work on the Odow River even if the brother were to do the work free-of-charge to the state. In the first place, how was the operational management of the equipment conceived before acquisition? Didn’t the district assemblies have engineers, technicians and operators to operate the machines? Why couldn’t some of those people be selected and teamed up for the Odow Rivers works? Mahama’s brother gives the lame excuse that he was doing the work for the state for free and that the only benefit to him is the keeping of his idle or redundant workers in work? The government only supplied and fuelled the equipment for his benevolent service to the state! That sounds good! But how many Ghanaians are so well connected to be able to offer this kind of cheap charity that must not be described as corruption? Hmm! Asem beba debi!

And against the background that Mahama’s own code of ethics for his ministers admonishes conflict of interest and family-play in public resource administration, what could have informed his approval of the machines for use by his brother, except double standards or recklessness? Did the ministers in local government consciously ditch the president to get him go back on his code of ethics? Did Mahama fail to be smart enough to realise this treachery? I suspect the president now reels in some embarrassment. What a let-down!

But these two simple examples of the president’s failings or weaknesses, among whatever many, may not be as threatening to the very soul and existence of the nation Ghana as the mistakes or stubbornness of the Chair of the Electoral Commission (EC). Political governance in Ghana has become the most lucrative business and the fastest road to personal and family enrichment and well-being. Thus political parties and their followers don’t only invest body and soul in it, but are ready to defend their investment even at the risk of fighting and destroying to protect their investment. This is the reality that makes the EC, especially its chairman, such an important entity. The potential for violence and national disintegration is what makes the country an egg of destiny in the hands of the EC. This is the reason the chairman of the EC must be an experienced and mature person, one who would be fearless, but not negatively stubborn as to ignore the fears of civil society.

This young woman, Charlotte Osei, holds Ghana’s destiny in her hands. If she chooses to be half as stubborn as in the example I have given of John Mahama, the nation Ghana, the so-called oasis of African peace and democracy will be plunged into conflagration. The horizons don’t hold good for this country, and I am scared to the bone. Why should my destiny and that of loved ones lie in the hands of this young woman?

For the avoidance doubt my fear is not founded in her gender! My concern has always been her experience and maturity and manner of appointment. I think there wasn’t enough consultation in respect of her appointment; and that makes her vulnerable to manipulation to the detriment and danger of Ghana my fatherland.

How many senior citizens are as frightened and worried as I am? How many would not want to run away as refugees in another country? Let us begin to talk and talk more loudly.

The EC has made a move to have the weaknesses in its information management system verified by an independent body. The issue is how this independent body would really be independent, and how competent it would be? How much transparency would be around this exercise and the general operation of the EC going forward into 2016 general elections? How fragile are the hands of the EC chairman? But more importantly, how negatively stubborn can she be? How can we all, as senior citizens and countrymen as whole, manage her so she does not humiliate us by making us run out of our homes barefooted? And still, one would ask: would we even have the strength to run fast and far enough into safety; and what about the women and our grandchildren?

No one should deceive himself or herself that Ghanaians are not Rwandans, Liberians, Libyans or other people. Worse things can happen here, and we must avoid them. I am concerned about the intemperateness I see in the youth of today. Coupled with high unemployment and social frustration, they are a time bomb so ready to deadly explode with just a little manipulative spark from any power hunter.

May God and Jesus turn their merciful eyes on us, Amen! But let everyone begin to take interest in the political atmosphere, going forward into 2016 and thereafter.

Ketiboa Blay, October 4, 2015

Photo by Ketiboa Blay