Also not an inexperienced schoolgirl?
For a country that professes faith in the youth, we do have an awful discouraging lot to say about young politicians. Or perhaps, only when those young politicians do not share our personal political beliefs do they become sitting ducks worth our piercing arrows of ridicule!
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Miss Francisca Oteng-Mensah, a 22-year-old second-year law student and newly elected parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Kwabre East Constituency, is either an inexperienced upstart worth every ridicule, or a rising star worth our collective encouragement. Broadcast journalist Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah is either both young and inexperienced like his former colleague, James Agyenim-Boateng, or we have been unfair and biased in our ridicule of the latter all these years. But this is
Ghana, and by our inconsistencies, you will know our political biases.
The history is simple. This is not the first time young politicians have either won elections or been appointed into high office of public service. In 2009, 28-year-old Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwah was appointed a deputy minister by President Mills, establishing a trend that has been followed by President Mahama. Four years later, Okudzeto-Ablakwah contested and won a seat in Ghana’s Parliament.
As is so often the case in Ghanaian politics, most of those that found these appointments to be a commendable demonstration of faith in the youth were the silent ones. The loud ones with negative comments about young appointees had the microphones, which they promptly deployed to run them down at the least opportunity. For various reasons –commentator’s political biases, actual dislike for young potentials despite loud hollow protestations to the contrary, perceived non-performance, frustrations from tight socioeconomic conditions etc.— we collectively made mincemeat of our young politicians and took them to the cleaners for all the country’s woes.
Political biases
“I don’t understand why the President would appoint some junior high school (JHS) boys and girls and first-year university students who could not pass their examinations to take decisions for me and Ghanaians,” fumed a traditional ruler.
“Mahama prefers ‘schoolboys’ to experienced politicians, for the sole purpose of victimising political opponents and the practice must cease,” said a Minister of the Gospel.
An NPP parliamentarian squarely placed the blame for the woes afflicting the nation on the "young and inexperienced ministers" in the Mahama administration while the minority leader “asserted that many of the President’s ministers are immature and do not have the requisite skills to help address the nation’s current woes.”
A development economist stated emphatically that the President had appointed deputies who “do not even know their functions.”
With the NPP now electing young Member of Parliament (MP) aspirants, the question was afloat whether in the name of consistency, these attacks on young politicians would surge. Rather, new disingenuous arguments have emerged, mainly that the election of very young people, including a student is not a prediction of inexperience in a future NPP government, but a sign of blossoming attractiveness of the NPP to young voters! Really? There are those who caught in this web of conflicting political views despite the same context, have started advancing other duplicitous arguments.
Among these is someone who asked us not to compare the two scenarios simply because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) young were appointed but the NPP young have been elected. The import of this distinction is unclear to me, especially given that should these young NPP candidates get elected to Parliament, they stand a chance of being appointed to ministerial positions. Is it the point then that right from the start, an Akufo-Addo presidency is prevented from appointing young ministers and deputies? Of course, the silent answer to this question said it all.
Other inconsistencies are equally interesting to observe; people silently defending young NDC politicians previously but now in the true spirit of ‘payback time’, openly ridiculing these new NPP candidates. The otherwise silent have found their voice while some of the loud judges of young and inexperienced NDC politicians appear to have lost their voices suddenly with the NPP primaries results. Whatever the underlying reason, one less voice of ridicule, solely on the basis of young age, is good silence.
Where do I stand personally?
Well, for starters, I am not one of those people who ridicule young NDC politicians only to suddenly find new reasons to praise young NPP politicians. I support all young politicians of whatever political shade and believe there should be systematic mentoring programmes both to support them before they assume office and even while in office in order to hone their political skills and talents and assure performance on the job. This may mean shielding young potentials from the immediate limelight by initially appointing them into ‘learning roles’ and also handing them roles that most align with their ready skills. This way, we set them up to succeed before fully exposing them to positions that make them automatic targets of vicious political opponents.
Secondly, it is entirely possible to find highly skilled and mature people who are actually very young but can perform in high office and inspire a whole generation while doing so. I have seen enough high-functioning young Ghanaian professionals in key positions in local and global organisations to convince me. The President can find such if he is looking.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, true power belongs to the people. The electoral test is the ultimate political test and anyone who wins the popular vote has passed the test, their age notwithstanding. Even if you are a professor of Political Science but have not won even one village election before, your political experience is nowhere near that of a 22-year-old who has set an agenda, canvassed for votes and actually been affirmed by her people. The true test of your political strength is acceptance by the people. Everything else is academic noise.
Let us conclude by taking inspiration from the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, Sir Sam Jonah, who in a recent speech at the graduation ceremony and 25th anniversary of the SOS-Herman Gmeiner International College in Tema, encouraged the youth who are bright and intelligent to offer to work in politics, government and public service to strengthen good governance and leadership.
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