The past, they say, is a better teacher if we pay attention to successes and mistakes that we might avoid and embrace the other.
There is no group more destructive than political idiots with even a whiff of power. They are like addicts overdosing on drugs when it comes to energetically imposing their selfish, visionless will on people. We have to care, honestly, when idiotic voters elect these people, we cannot blame political parties who put up such worthless candidates who have no developmental vision and, cannot message their way out of a wet paper bag.
That is one of the lessons of the 2020 election. Our idiots are becoming younger, and they come to the table visionless, with no clear ideas for developing a nation like Ghana.
Our tragedy is that most of our politicians running for national office are not informed about a range of local, national, and international issues. This includes, but is not limited to, inflation, the budget; taxes, government spending, crime; education; health care; ECOWAS, the environment; health care; health insurance; social security; and whether we have a legal system that helps economic growth.
We stand at a critical point in our democratic history —- a history dominated by an interventionist passion that affects all aspects of public life. The spirit of planning for development has turned Ghana into a source of economic interventionism, with each new leader and government promising a great leap forward based on:
Higher taxes that discourage work and production
Tariffs that raise prices and deprive local entrepreneurs of getting the most from business innovations
Higher government spending, that takes money away from the private sector
A general failure to implement and enforce the rule of law.
A history of no accountability and power abuse.
These policies create poverty. No doubt our history is dominated by rent collectors, political profiteers, swindlers, women, and men in high and low places whose policy prescriptions are turning citizens into consumers. Our elected leaders appear more interested in generating personal wealth than in having the populace become wealthy. They seek bribes and demand 10 per cent on inside trading contracts. Their actions divide the country permanently…, the tribalists, the nepotists ‘idiots’, whose lack of economic knowledge, disengagement, and demands for immediate gratification define our system.
People often express their desire for honest politicians. However, as the government grows larger and more bureaucratic, it becomes burdened with parasites who contribute nothing to the economy and have no sense of responsibility. The government is now the largest employer in the country, and to maintain that status, it taxes hardworking citizens and redistributes their money to those who do not contribute to society.
This is what has happened since 1992. An imperfect egalitarian democracy was established under the cover of giving ‘power to the poor’, with disastrous effects of chronic monetary instability, high inflation, punitive tax levels, and state appropriation of private property. Under cover of a people’s democracy, wealth and power were concentrated in a thieving, idiotic oligarch.
Anyone watching and listening to the so-called “debate” among 2024 office seekers and hoping to witness something that elevates the political rhetoric from the corrosive to the sensible, even tolerable, would probably be disappointed. Many are.
Instead of showing voters something different from what they have become accustomed to, the current rhetoric is still a verbal slugfest and insult festival. Most candidates call their opponents a liar or an idiot. Most will not acknowledge the validity of the most obvious achievement of the opponent. Neither would they admit that some of the things said might be true. Their attitude shows nothing but childishness.
Aspirants fail to address how they plan to improve Ghana’s economy and eradicate corruption in all levels of government. Their policies may expand the government at the cost of the private sector. Instead of promoting productive industries, they focus on increasing public sector employment, which is plagued by partisan corruption.
What cuts would aspirants make to reduce the national debt, approaching unredeemed proportions? That would be useful information for voters to choose their next leader. Instead, the insults are flying. This, unfortunately, is the new normal.
Ghanaian voters need to know the inner thinking and inner being of their leading presidential aspirants and their parliamentary counterparts. Returning Parliamentarians should tell voters if they made mistakes in supporting certain Bills, what those Bills were, and whether they have learned anything from their experience.
There are many questions for which we do not yet have answers. Here is another one: Do our political leaders believe that they are superior to us and have all the solutions? Do they acknowledge the admirable qualities of their opponents? And finally, is there any sign of humility in our leaders? It would be reassuring to know if our leaders possess even a little bit of modesty.
Another question voters might want to ask: How would each person seeking our votes make this country economically viable? Would it be through more government in our lives or less? The public must know the inner workings of a politician’s heart and soul beyond the studied NPP-NDC talking points. Let us see if we can unravel the minds and motives of all the would-be presidents, who are now campaigning to RULE us. We should brace ourselves for the noise.
While some aspirants understand the problems that exist, their conscience has been taken over by the concept of political correctness and moral relativism. Many people still believe that the government has the power to solve all problems like magic. While not knowing the basics of economics is not necessarily a disqualification, it can introduce interpretive biases. This is especially true when it opens old wounds rooted in decades of authoritarian false promises, which have led to anti-wealth, anti-middle class, and anti-market policies.
The question remains if a few of the hopeful presidential candidates are up to the challenge of getting Ghana’s economy under control.
John Mahama, the former president, still fails to recognize that leaders are not omniscient. Nobody has the God-given right to create wealth for another. He failed as a president because he did not understand the broad institutional framework within which developing economies function. His ridiculous “you will all get poultry equipment to enable you to rear chicken” is a perfect example of a worthless pile of economic garbage, but he is selling it to a gullible electorate desperate for something, and it is exactly what Ghanaian politicians have been doing for decades. In this mode, leaders cannot entertain important course corrections.
We, the people are going to have to change things. We, the people, are going to have to let our politicians know that we are not going to tolerate their failures any longer. The 1979 revolution brought nothing but indiscipline, unfriendly investment policies, and envy. The revolution will bring Ghana back to decency, economic prosperity, strong property rights, low regulation, investment-friendly policies, and greater market access for our farmers. This is not going to come from the top down, the army, or the pulpit.
Meanwhile, before you vote for your idiot, remember that Ghanaian politicians are the problem, not the solution to our economic prosperity. The revolution forward to true Ghanaian greatness will start with us.
If there are enough of us left to do it.
Source: Kwadwo Afari
