THE RACE FOR POLITICAL SUPREMACY IN GHANA: THE DAY AFTER 29 AUGUST

Just as nature would have it, Thursday the 29th of August, 2013 was so calm and serene with cloudy weather conditions across most parts of the country symbolising peace. Need I say the same was on both Tuesday, 24th July, 2012 during which Prez. J.E.A Mills joined his ancestors as well as the day on which the one year anniversary of his death was marked. It all began on that fateful day of 28th December, 2012 when three leading members of the NPP led by its 2012 standard-bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, filed a petition at the Supreme Court (SC) of the Republic challenging the validity of the election of the incumbent president, John Mahama. Indeed, this case dragged on for eight months with half of this duration used for the live broadcast of the entire court proceedings on the State-owned television. One cannot forget the intense moments, the legal drama just as seen in the Boston Legal series, the statistics and the sheer ‘home-knowledge’ exhibited by all parties in the case. Oh yeah! One can’t forget about the legal jargons on display… amicus curie et al.! Finally, the judgement has been delivered by the eminent nine justices of the highest court of the Land upholding the legitimacy of the election that led to the declaration of Mahama as the president by the Electoral Commission (EC) of the Republic. In all these, I wish to salute that rare gem of a man in the name of Dr. Kwadzo Afari Gyan, the EC boss. May your kind live long in our great Republic. As I have always stated, the election petition in a democracy is a right once a person disagrees with the result of an election. However, any winnable petition must be water-tight (not as ascribed by some) because rejecting a national electoral result has serious diverse socio-economic implications hence such a decision cannot easily be taken by any court of law worth its name. I need not remind you of the negatives of this petition? Of course, it has its own positive namely the possible reformation of our electoral processes. As a progressive, I believe in reformation. However, the needed reformation of our electoral system does not need such a rigorous activity to activate it. It is a fact that almost after every election in Ghana, some amount of reformation is done. For me, the main people who caused our nation this immense dissatisfaction and unnecessary anxiety aren’t the EC but the political parties. This is because if the political parties had serious people as polling station agents unlike the uneducated “macho-men” they used in most instances, these agents would have identified almost all the issues raised in the petition. Having identified those stuff, they would have prompted the presiding officials to correct same. Yeah, in this instance, not just the NPP but also the NDC is implicated. If you think otherwise, why wouldn’t the NDC polling station agents identify these mistakes of filling wrong columns with correct numbers and prompt the EC officials to effect the needed corrections? Come to think of it; lots of the presiding officers of the EC (doing the wrong entries) were submitted to the EC by these main (2) political parties. That’s the reality. I just hope the EC will assert its power and get serious people for such jobs in the future. Certainly, in the future, I hope all national assignments involving numbers etc. will be taken more seriously and not left in the hands of incompetent individuals. Now, what’s the future of politics in Ghana? I do not intend to consider individual future political ambitions especially that of Nana Akufo-Addo. I strongly share in the belief that only the two major political parties will be on the political stage for a significant period. However, the NDC could have a stronger hold on politics in Ghana for a longer period than the now acclaimed continuous two terms for each political party administration. Yes, NDC can stay in power for a pretty long time before NPP can take over. Firstly, the key factor on which lots of Ghanaians cast their vote is their quest for development. Interestingly, the pursuit for development isn’t about rocket science development but rather the provision of potable water, electricity and good road. It is always difficult to comprehend why a country like Ghana with all its resources, both natural and human, cannot provide these very basic things for her people. So if the NDC can capitalise on the current resource endowed environment that has recently added oil to its immense resource base, there’s no way the NDC cannot continue to hold on to power legitimately for a pretty long time. This is it: provide these basic things of life and win power. An enormous drop in corruption among government officials is a key avenue to get much money to implement this developmental agenda. It is possible! One cannot run away from the tribal voting pattern in Ghana. Of course, it is not healthy for politics in any part of the world especially in the developing world. Remember even in the most advanced democracies such as that of the United States, there are “tribal” voting pattern which per the composition of that country is christened racial voting pattern. Hispanics and Latinos are more likely to vote for the Democrats while the Whites will easily go for the Republicans. By virtue of votes obtained across the Nation, the NDC seems to cut across the whole nation. Why does it seem the NDC is speedily increasing its votes in traditional NPP tribal areas? The answer is simple: most of the natives of those areas have top positions in the NDC hence their people feel being part of the NDC administration anytime the NDC is in power. Is it strange that the NDC is protecting its main stronghold (the Volta Region) by electing their standard-bearers (after JJ) from regions other than the Volta? It is simply to protect that which seems intact and go look for more. Will you get a flag-bearer in either the NDC or the NPP and his family members and towns-people won’t vote for such a candidate? Remember, democracy (election) is about numbers. Certainly, it is easy for the NPP to reverse this trend if and only if they can give highly top positions to other people especially those from the NDC strongholds. I dare say anytime the NPP will present a non-Akan (Asante, Fante, Akwapem, Bono) as its standard-bearer in an election, it shall win that election hands down. Also, despite the school of thought that the petition as brought before the SC by the NPP is bound to strengthen the nation’s democracy, there are many out there who still believe that this petition has placed the country into some unnecessary tension for the past several months. The economic loss which continued to be counted by all players in that sector is another obstacle argued by many others. This, to some people, will create an unlikely to be forgotten aversion towards the NPP in the next few elections especially that of 2016. Don’t forget that those making such arguments also have votes to cast in subsequent elections. The cards highly favour the NDC to lead the race for political supremacy in Ghana unless the NPP will initiate and implement some radical changes into its folds. It must be stated that it won’t also be as easy as you might think for the NDC because most African politicians, not excluding those in Ghana, always fail to be counted when it matters most. On this great day after the 29th August SC judgement declaration of the electoral petition, let’s all celebrate this beautiful country of ours. Folk, remember your thought today can make the world better tomorrow. Think about it!

I HAVE A DREAM - MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

The "I HAVE A DREAM" speech by that great son of the world, Martin Luther King Jr., did not only change my thought and psyche about life but also what the word world means. Certainly, on this day of the 50th Anniversary of this Great Speech in human history, I cannot but salute you, Martin Luther King Jr.. The world is a better place because you once passed through it! "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men -- yes, black men as well as white men -- would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hoped that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends -- so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!" And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi -- from every mountainside. Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring -- when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

WELCOME, MR. PRESIDENT

Your Excellency, John Dramani Mahama, I affectionately welcome you to the highest office of our Land, Ghana. In some few hours ago, you took the Oath of Office and that of Allegiance as the 4th President of the 4th Republic of our dear Country. Welcome, Mr. President. Mr. President, I must first acknowledge the already new insights you have brought into your ‘new’ office. At the presentation of the last State of the Nation Address to climax the end of the tenure of the 3rd President of the 4th Republic led by the Late President, H.E JEA Mills, which you had the opportunity to complete due to the death of your boss, you introduced the use of the teleprompter in our public address system. Pretty amazingly, media report had it that some honourable Members of Parliament and some journalists who were right before you did not know you were using this device during your delivery despite some of us who were watching afar even knew right from the commencement of your delivery. I dare say this might just confirm the widely held notion that there are some members in the august House who in this 21st Century do not use email and by extension internet. Anyway, this still remains a rumour! Mr. President, you have introduced a sense of modernity and the use of technology (for example, your ipad/tab used in some other public addresses such as today) hence rightly a post-independence day born president. You, thus, represent the changing phase of leadership that we need at this crucial period of our nationhood. Indeed, many are the expectations of the Ghanaian electorate who stood in the ever scorching sun to let go of the power of his/her thumb to elect you as the President of this great nation of ours at this special period in history. I need not tell you the problems and challenges that confront the masses of our people. Mr. President, since your birth, our challenges in most cases have not been solved but rather intensified. Just as you narrated in your autobiography (My First Coup d'Etat: And Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa) the difficulty you went through when you embark on the journey of attending the admission interview that was required for placement in the masters in communication programme in the School of Communication Studies at UG which culminated in you not even bathing after an almost two day’s journey before attending upon the panel of interviewers but only used some small quantum of water that you have pleaded for from a good Samaritan to wash the dust off your head and face, these challenges are still staring right before us. The bad state of our roads as you navigated while on that highly loaded truck at the start of that journey is same and in some cases worsened. You may “not” know they still exist maybe because of the cars you use now but I wish to draw your attention, Mr. President, that they are still with us today. Ours at this time, Mr. President, is not the hi-tech, scientific discoveries. No, not about rocket sciences, for example. Please, I hope you won’t mistake this to think that despite being a science student, am not for great scientific inventions. Far be it from that. I highly want it. However, we cannot get there when we can’t even get potable water in to our homes. Mr. President, for instance, my home locality is called “Tongu” literally meaning “around/near the river” implying that our villages are just a stone throw to the Volta river. The water needed for potable water is got from this river. Unfortunately, we in the Tonguland and indeed in most parts of our country cannot still access potable water. I don’t want to bore you with the implications, for that, you know very well. Must I remind you that people in most of our villages including where some of my family members live (at other places) and maybe your home village too, may as we speak, continue to share the ever coffee coloured water with their farm animals? Mr. President, ours is simple as you also acknowledged in your inaugural address: the very basic things of life that will bring a smile unto the faces of our people is what we ask for: health, education, roads, energy (electricity), jobs and a well-planned advancement towards technology development and improvement. Many share the view that the Association of Graduate Unemployed was instigated by graduates loyal to the opposition NPP. I think so too. However, Mr. President, the truth is the proportion of unemployed graduates in Ghana far outweighs the total number of members of that association. Yes, I meant there is a high rate of unemployment despite both you and I know there is no official record of that. I appreciate and admire the development of entrepreneurial skills of individuals but this does not waive your responsibility of providing the right avenue for job creation in the country and actually providing sustainable jobs to your people especially the teeming youth. Many thought the on-going challenge of the elections that just brought you into office may distract you. However, you have started proving them wrong. I must congratulate you on getting the second phase of the Better Ghana Agenda you and the NDC presented to the good people of Ghana underway already. Last week, I heard you have directed the district assemblies in which the 200 community SHS (in the NDC manifesto) are to be built to start the preparatory works assiduously. Yes, that is the best way to go. Due to the tension and anxiety that has characterised the 2012 general elections and its aftermath, the call for national unity is on the lips of every Ghanaian and even none Ghanaians who wish us well. Just last week, in the State of the Nation Address, you tasked politicians to remember that what Ghana wants of them is “partnership” and not “partisanship”. Just after that, many challenge you to walk the talk. Sooner than later a golden but technically tricky opportunity came up for you to truly show that you meant what you said: the election of the 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Due to the precedence set by the opposition NPP in 2005 (then majority), you and the NDC majority now have a 100% chance to retaliate. This, indeed, was the position of many of your numerous supporters especially the youth. However, you walked your talk. You and the leadership of the NDC in parliament freely and willingly gave it to the NPP and rightly reminded them that you have the chance to retaliate but for the sake of good governance and the development of our democracy. Mr. President, some critics say your “E dey be k3k3” with a twisted mouth slogan meant “E dey beee give you alone k3k3”. You have the opportunity to prove that it really meant “E dey be give us all k3k3”, which I know you meant. You have the mandate of the good people of Ghana. Mr. President, you said to Ghanaians in your investiture address, “I will not let you down”. This is your time and this is our time. History beckons. You have the privilege of making it great. I know you can and I wish you the very best as you embark on making Ghana far better than you have come to meet it. May God lead you. Remember, Mr. President, your thought today can make Ghana and the world better tomorrow. Think about it! Thank you. Lawer Egbenya (laweregbenya@gmail.com)

MY NEW YEAR - 2013 - MESSAGE

Now, this is how I see 2013: It certainly, with God's grace, must be a better year and we look forward to that. It should be better for us all especially the underprivileged in society. Let us all make it a time of sharing regardless of the amount you have; just share some with a neighbour who has little less than you have at any point throughout the year. In this way, our government will do better in meeting the needs of her people, In this way, pastors will meet NOT only the spiritual need of their congregation but also the physical need which have prevented some of their members from truly believing in God, In this way, the many declarations our various pastors across the world have made for 2013 will be fulfilled, In this way, the world will be a better place for us all to live in in 2013. Friend, best wishes in 2013! May God bless all. Lawer Egbenya.