Search for politicians who love Ghana

Ghanaians have just elected opposition leader and former President John Dramani Mahama, as the country’s new leader, underlining the power of the people to change a government they believe is not working for them.

The scale of the victory for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) speaks to the frustration of Ghanaians with the outgoing government, and their hope now is that Mahama will keep his promises to make life better for them.

Only time will tell if President Mahama will deliver because the belief about Ghanaian politics is that once a government is entrenched in power, it feels no obligation to work for the people – but rather to fill the wallets of a select few. President Mahama will be judged by how he manages this challenge.  

Over the years in Ghana, the issue has not been a lack of qualified leaders. The problem, across party lines, is the lack of leaders who care enough about the country, to govern with integrity and improve the lives of the people.

The truth is that most of the politicians we entrust with power care very little about the country they are sworn to serve. They have no love for the country.

They live and work for their pockets, not the betterment of the people. 

Politics is where the money is, and people run for office to fill their pockets, not to serve. The concept of the national interest is alien to most of our politicians.

They see Ghana as an entity to be squeezed, fleeced or milked dry. As long as they can fill their pockets, the country can burn, for all they care. 

People lament the prevalence of greed, graft and corruption but these do not happen in a vacuum. 

Lack of care

The culture of corruption is rooted in the lack of care for anything other than money.

When that happens, corruption becomes second nature.

You don’t think of the impact on others when you skim millions off major contracts or inflate the cost of a contract you are negotiating because it is the government that is paying. 

You pocket the difference because the most important thing is what benefits you ― not the larger good you can do.

It is why often a road contract is awarded but never completed.

Or when it is completed, everything is washed off after one rainy season.

After the chain of people involved in the contract, take their cut, what little is left is only good for one coat of tar.

No one cares enough to inspect or ask questions. And the people who stand to benefit from the project?

They can cry their hearts out and no one cares.

Politicians will froth at the mouth, pound the table and talk endlessly about how much they care but they really don’t.

Be a fly on the wall in their offices and you’ll learn that all the talk is pure theatre.

You don’t love Ghana by skinning it to the bone or selling off its resources for personal gain.

You love it by enacting policies that make life better for people.

Who can look at the suffering Ghanaians go through year after year and say the government is working for them? 

It is this lack of basic care and consideration for the country and people that is at the heart of our problems.

Otherwise, how do you explain ‘galamsey,’ which, experts say, costs Ghana $2.3 billion annually in lost revenue, and is responsible for polluting 60 per cent of its freshwater sources? 

How is it that for years and years, our governments have connived with foreigners and local power brokers to pillage and destroy our resources?

It is because our leaders and decision-makers care more about filling their pockets than protecting our lands. 

Generational

This lack of love for the country is also generational. Successive generations have failed this country.

We have turned Ghana into a ‘me, me,’ society, worshipping at the altar of avarice, taking more and more, out of the country, but giving precious little in return.

Since independence, there has been only one generation that has loved Ghana unconditionally and devoted itself to the betterment of the country.

And that is the generation that won us independence: the Kwame Nkrumahs, JB Danquahs, William Ofori-Attahs, Ako Adjeis and others. 

They had their differences of course, largely on how to navigate the hard road to independence.

Nkrumah wanted to reach the promised land immediately, while the Danquah faction, believing in the inevitability of independence, was content to let it play out.

But despite their differences, they were unwavering in their commitment to Ghana. 

The country Nkrumah built arose out of that vision for a better country. He was never money-hungry. Nkrumah did not leave behind mansions at home and abroad when he died. He had no millions stashed away.

In exile, he lived off the charity of others. Compare him to today’s political class.

The mark of today’s leaders is not how much good they do, but how much wealth they have. This is the culture of politics in Ghana.

The challenge of our time is finding politicians who love and care about the country, not their bottom lines.

Are there such people in Ghana? This is the test Mahama now faces.

How well he does may well determine his success or failure.

The writer is a journalist/commentator in Ottawa, Canada.

He was formerly Press Secretary to President Hilla Limann.