In his poem “Lochie Warning,” Thomas Campbell alluded to the fact that “…coming events cast their shadows before”.
Yes, coming events,indeed,cast their shadows before….
I’ve always wondered as much I’ve pondered the faith of society taking into cognizance the kind of system we have running when I came to fully appreciate what Karl Max and Friedrich Eagles meant by fierce class struggle between the mercilessly oppressive “bourgeoisie’s(the property owing class) and the peasant cum oppressed “proletariat’s(the industrial working class) in their literature “The Manifesto of the communist”.
The factual realities of this literature will establish itself in the concluding part of this write-up!
Meantime,I’m sure it’s not lost on you that the 2016 voter exhibition exercise which lasted for three weeks and afforded citizens the opportunity to verify their names and help clean the register ended last Sunday with reports of low turnout and amazing apathy in many polling stations across the country. This was despite the fact that the 2016 edition of the exhibition exercise took three weeks to complete as compared to the past where it lasted for two weeks…
Indeed, I made some time to visit one or two of the exhibition centers in my constituency and can also report that the situation is either worse or same as the media is reporting for other centers.
Thinking I’m surprised, right? No,’surprise’ has never been contemplated as a word in this turn of events. As a matter of fact and in all conscience, I felt this coming. I sensed it. I prophesized it and philosophers even philosophised it…!
Don’t you think it’s hard to imagine and even arresting if only you don’t shut your critical distance and margin that with barely four months to the general elections,the many political parties we have in the country are yet to unveil their campaign promises(Manifestoes) to the owners of power (the voter’s) and give us reason(s) to entrust our legitimate power into their hands as mere trustees?
Even at that,the major political parties that are likely to gain the mandate of the people to exercise power have all exhibited to us their campaign teams but are uncompromisingly silent about exhibiting their Manifestoes;and at their usual best are accusing each other of what they described as ‘fear of copy work.”Flabberwhelming” and amazing,I guess?
What does this tell you? Well, for me,I think they are just interested in our votes and feel they owe us no responsibility to give reasons in return for same. After all,”some people can’t think far and the Ghanaian voter can’t think far some! Really!
Democratically cankerous enough,in all these, the media is abased as it’s quiet, civil society is debased as it’s hired and the ordinary man is at gazed as we are fired!It’s amid such gloom,the EC out of no fault of theirs exhibited the voter’s register when the People have not been shown an exhibit of any campaign message. Now, tell me what you would have expected if not apathy with no sympathy!
The hard truth in all these is that, we are likely to record a low turnout in the 2016 general elections. And the situation has never been different from the previous elections(Subject to your own assessment).
Infact, I have tangled myself in grassroot politics before and I continue to do so,howbeit,with limitations considering the fact that I’ve to reconcile such engagements with my role as a media person. And note-worthy without mincing words, I can tell you unequivocally that the Ghanaian voter is increasingly awakened and mad at the politician over his/her unjustified situation.
I tell you,when you hear rancorous expressions like, “I won’t vote again! Politicians are liars! They are all the same!’Politrickcians’ are corrupt…”Just know that they are simple expressions of the reality yet unborn…
And I will at this point implore you to take it or feel free to burn the sea,the days when the owner’s of the land (proletarians) labour and plead unheeded before their exploiters and supposed masters/trustees(bourgeoisie’s) is near collision…
It will mark “the beginning of what I christened the end”;Where if you permit me to refer back to the literature I introduced earlier on;Karl Max (1818-1883) a revolutionary German economist and philosopher, and founder of the communist movement saw history as the story of class struggles, in which the oppressed fight against the oppressors. According to him, as history unfolded, the victory of one class would pave the way for the future freedom of the rest of society(see Karl Max and Friedrich Eagles(1886).The Manifesto of the communist:International Publishing Co.).
In such a society, the masses(underclass) will resent and rise against the nonsense in the system,and the days when the corrupt politicians and abusers of power oppressed and exploited the slaves and poor labourers(masses) will come to a perpetual end.
In such days, the bourgeoisification of society will ipso factor pave the way for the proletarians to establish a new classless society where the land, industry, labour, and wealth will be shared between all people pari passu. All people will have the right to education,access to health care and the basic necessities of life, and the class structures will disappear…No more first class citizens, second class…, third class… ad infinitum!
In such a society,corrupt chiefs and traditional authorities who have vouched to continually divide and cause anarchy(chieftaincy crises) in society will run leaving their sandals behind, and harmony will reign. Did I just say that? You know I can’t possible say that alone. Blame Kwame Nkrumah for saying that first!
Today,the politician and wielders of the people’s power can afford to misbehave and manipulate the fortunes of the people and wilfully refuse to awaken to the simple fact that:power is not attained for its own seek but is to be exercised for the common good of all….
They can continue to harden their hearts,corrupt their minds, bleed the public purse, stoss away in flashy cars and wasteful convoys at the tax payers expense whiles the masses wallow in abject poverty and struggle to catch expensive but nonexisting public transport (reference to the stampede I’ve ever been involved in struggling to board a public transport from Circle to Legon).
When those days come,maybe just maybe we will know where power actually lies and who power ideally belongs to. As the old colloquial adage will have it, “a word is enough for the wise; or do they usually say, ‘a word to the wise is in the North?”
Until then, let’s continue to pray for our dear country(Ghana), especially so,as we prepare to go to the polls in December that the almighty God will grant us victory of peace over war….
May God bless our homeland Ghana.
The writer is just a concerned Ghanaian youth who is entitled to his opinion just like any other meaningful Ghanaian. You may agree or disagree with my writeup.But don’t do same for my person.
READ MORE ON MY BLOG: ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com
By:ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM(AB)
YOUTH ACTIVIST/RADIO PRESENTER
0241129910/0200704844 / [email protected]