Ghana Desperately Needs A New Kind Of Politics

Ghana desperately needs a new kind of politics. A convention ought to be established that when a new president is sworn into office, all the political parties will rally behind him or her, and contribute positively to the nation-building effort - by contributing innovative ideas, and, when the occassion calls for it,  criticise government policies constructively: with alternative policies offered in each instance.

The time has come for the corrupt, old-style politics that has polarised Ghanaian society to end. Ghana will never progress if its people are not disciplined and united.

Why, for example, should the prayer of a major opposition party and some of its supporters be that the government of the day fails - when that opposition party claims to seek the betterment of ordinary people: by the transformation of Ghana into a prosperous society?

When a government fails, it is the ordinary people that suffer, not the relatively prosperous politicians constantly praying that a government of the day fails - so that they will be voted into power again in the next presidential and parliamentary elections.

If a government fails, it makes the work of the successor-regime that replaces it extremely difficult, if not well-nigh impossible.

The divisive old-style politics, in which "equalisation" and the "endless-blame-game" underpin each party's propaganda war strategy, has led to the cynicism we see and hear daily on the airwaves of television and  FM  radio stations.

Yet, for the good of the nation, opposition parties ought to be more responsible - and take advantage of such media platforms to provide a steady stream of cutting-edge ideas: as alternative policies that will move Ghana forward. Alas, unfortunately for Ghana, the opposite has been the case. And that has been the bane of our national life since the 4th Republic came into being in 1992.

It is up to Ghana's younger generation to take their destiny into their own hands - by actively seeking to end the dominance of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in Ghanaian politics.

 In that regard, #OccupyGhana's unalloyed patriotism and nationalistic-activism are in the right direction. To avoid violence and chaos in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections, young Ghanaians must ensure that they do not cast their votes for candidates standing for either the NDC or the NPP.

No political party whose game-plan for returning to power again, after each period in the political wilderness is sabotaging the nation-building effort, deserves to govern the Republic of Ghana.

To end the NDC/NPP duopoly's vise-like grip on our national life, Ghana's younger generation would be wise to rally behind a new grand coalition of the various Nkrumaist parties - to enable the ideas that Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had about the type of egalitarian society Ghana ought to be to prevail once again in our nation's politics.

It is that African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia that will secure their individual futures in a fair society in which all young Ghanaians have the opportunity to advance regardless of individual family background.

As things currently stand, in a nation with such huge disparities in wealth, only a relatively few  privileged young people will eventually be successful, in the selfish dog-eat-dog society created by the corrupt system that suits the NDC/NPP duopoly's old-style politics so well.

Yet, to become a prosperous nation, Ghanaian society must harness the talents of all the young people in our country. It is for that reason that Ghana so desperately needs a new kind of politics.