Folks, the 2016 contest for the presidency of our dear nation has officially began. One party is ready and geared up to go. The starting point was at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Sunday when the ruling NDC officially launched its bid to hold on to power. The launch was reportedly a huge gathering of party big wigs and thousands of foot-soldiers, and the atmosphere, reports said, was feisty and euphoric.
Party leaders used the occasion to mouth off the usual platitudes: government’s commitment to improving the living conditions of Ghanaians by growing the economy, investing in education and building new infrastructure and sprucing up old ones. The occasion, of course, did not end without the predictable throwing of invective at the main opposition party.
All told, the stage is now set for a battle of words and rhetoric bombast between the NDC and its arch rival, the NPP which will also launch its campaign at a later date. Ghanaians should expect fireworks.
Repudiation of NDC economic and financial policies will naturally be the central theme of the NPP campaign, I am sure. Expect the NPP to hit back hard at the volley of criticism leveled at it by the NDC.
The counter-punches will just be as nasty and sharp, I can assure you of that, and ultimately, the party will hold itself out as the best alternative to the ruling NDC, assuring Ghanaians of a better tomorrow if they give it the mandate to once again rule the nation.
Ghanaians, those of little political connection and meager financial resources, will be watching these political events with a mixture of skepticism and doubt. After all, they were promised milk and honey in prior campaigns, but there has not been a significant improvement in their economic well being.
Prices of food and other essentials of life continue to be beyond their reach, and unemployment just cannot be brought under control. Ordinary Ghanaians are, plainly speaking, suffering.
As one major political party fights to retain power and the other claws and punches to regain power, which of the two can be trusted to bring home the goods and to improve our lives? This is the question Ghanaians are asking.
And the answers are not simple. As my pal, Ace Ankomah, a lawyer in Accra posted on his facebook page Monday, “parties are copying from each other, does it therefore make any difference which of them is in power?”
Yes, it matters who is in power, so long as the party in charge implements policies that will fundamentally alter our lives, it does not make any difference if those policies were stolen from another political party or not.
Ghanaians are chafing under severe economic conditions and desperately need relief; but will changing a government usher in the good times? It remains to be seen. There are not guarantees that a new government will be able to instantly change the fortunes of the nation.
Let us not forget that historically, economic recoveries have been slow, and laborious: witness how long it has taken the world to recover from the economic collapse of 2008. Many nations are still struggling to right their economies and Ghana is no exception.
Nonetheless, with just three months to go before the elections, the two main parties have a major responsibility to run clean campaigns, devoid of the usual ugly blatter and insidious rants.
Ghanaians, despite being overwhelmed by daily challenges, still prefer a government that will cater to their needs and wants, and not just the politically connected and the educated elite.
Uncle is true, but with your resent visit to our beloved country, you could see the ndc’s massive infrastructure development and needs to be given another four years to complete the unfinished projects. The only thing people will say is that this country is developed because of it’s infrastructure. Not the minimum wage of the employees.