<<Print>>

When you don't vote, others decide for you. Decide for yourself. Whoever is elected must hear and represent you, keep you informed and account to you & your associates. If this is not happening, be more, not less insistent.

Ghana led the post-colonial independence movement & maintains its lead as the model sub-Saharan democracy. Ghana's stability provides better literacy, health and personal liberty than most of our neighbors. We all want more, not less of these benefits for ourselves, our children and their children to come. We don't want Boko Haram here. We don't want others deciding for us.

Eight out of every ten adult Ghanaians now vote in Presidential & parliamentary elections. That is better than the UK and much better than the US where less than six in ten bother to vote. In most countries participation is falling; in Ghana it's high and still rising. So why do so many Ghanaians complain that politicians mainly represent their own interests?

Some blame Ghana' diverse, free media. Our newspapers, radio, TV & websites tell us more about what's wrong than right. But this is their proper role. Our representatives themselves should have good news to report and they should respond when we are not satisfied.

Voting alone cannot achieve this. Too often we give our votes for the wrong reasons: we vote for someone because he or she is from our ethnic or language group, our district, or represents our occupation or religious affiliation.

We vote for someone perceived to have status and power, or who appeals to our prejudices, or promises benefits, 'though we know these promises often will not, even cannot be kept. We often fail to consider what policies are best for Ghana rather than ourselves. Like the candidates, we focus on immediate issues rather than the future. As a result, we elect people and support policies with which we are soon dissatisfied.

Only one in three Ghanaians vote in District Assembly elections, even less among city dwellers. Rural voters are often members of producer & marketing organizations able to pressure representatives but even they complain of being ignored.

It does not help that 30% of representatives are appointed, not elected; they are seen to dominate assemblies and represent government rather than the people. We feel that our Assembly votes make no difference and so lose interest.

What can we do? Our Constitution requires the President to execute & maintain the Constitution and Laws of Ghana, and to preside over our national security. We want those things and more.

To know what we want and what is possible we must inform ourselves; to get what we want we must inform our representatives. If we don't get what we want we must keep on their necks until we do. We must organize.

‘Those who profess to favour freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without ploughing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." -- Frederick Douglass, nineteenth century African-American social reformer, abolitionist orator, writer, and statesman.

Ghanaians have much to be proud of but much to agitate about too. We have abundant natural resources and a young, literate and entrepreneurial population. We don't make good use of them. Inadequate electricity supply causes large economic and personal costs throughout society.

Without power students cannot learn, many rural enterprises and almost all urban ones cannot work and produce, many foods cannot be stored and are spoiled, banking systems and retailing are disrupted, homes are dark and most entertainment is impossible. This alone impedes development and makes Ghana uncompetitive.

For many, particularly in rural and poor urban areas, access to safe water and sanitation is limited or non-existent and is our main cause of illness. Water is the most basic of all necessities.

Unsafe roads and inefficient transport cost lives and money. Ghana's road fatality rate is several times higher than western countries where levels of car ownership and distances travelled are much higher. Slow road transport of goods and high running costs add to the cost of everything you buy.

Limited Internet access and capacity waste education and market opportunities. In developed economies Internet connection saves money by saving time, enabling delivery of existing services at lower cost and entirely new services to be offered.

The Internet is the most powerful new tool since printing presses were invented nearly seven hundred years ago. It magnifies the value of study time and enables ordinary working people to inform themselves on any subject. Failure to develop adequate Internet capacity is another major blow to Ghana's development.

Ghana has a few excellent hospitals but their capacity is insufficient. More than half of our populations live in rural areas where medical services are practically inaccessible, as they are to the urban poor. The impact upon Ghana's infant mortality and adult life expectancy is another large social and economic cost.

It is true that many of these problems are even worse in neighbouring countries. They are still unacceptable here because their costs mean that many of our precious young people cannot be employed. In the country and cities too many people remain needlessly poor.

Use your vote to solve these problems. Support candidates and parties with practical policies that will work to make Ghana better today and better still tomorrow. We have a lot of catching up to do.

We have the vote. Just as important, we have freedom of speech. Surely we must have something to say, not every four years but at every opportunity until we get what we need and want.