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Please, for the love of whatever you believe in, VOTE

Barima’s Beefs VII – There are 45 minutes left to determine the speed of Ghana’s future. You cannot hold your leaders to account if you do not vote

Today, 7 December 2020, Ghana is deciding. All forms of campaigning have ended and voters are now making their final choice.

Understandably, over time, the intensive campaigns have made most citizens feel weary, and most Ghanaians are praying that the day will soon be over.

By now, almost all voters will have decided whom to vote for. Some have decided to vote for the incumbent party, the New Patriotic Party, perhaps because of their implementation of policies and actions such as Free Senior High School, the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), restructuring of the banking sector, Planting for Food and Jobs, One District, One Factory, the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) and myriad others.

Others intend to vote for John Mahama, the NDC’s candidate and former president of Ghana, to “correct his mistakes” and also enable him to implement policies such as the legalisation of okadas, as well as a pledge to “spend US$10 billion on infrastructure over the next five years”.

Some, too, have shown an interest in the smaller parties.

Why you must vote

One must note that some individuals have decided that they will not be voting at all. The consensus among these individuals is that they see no reason why they should “go stand in the sun” to cast their ballot when no benefits come their way during the tenure of these politicians.

They are disillusioned with the ruling class. Hence, in their opinion, the best thing to do is to stay home. These sentiments can be found across all demographics, but they are predominant among urbanite, middle- and upper-class Ghanaians.

Making “no voting” a noble action is idealistic, to say the least. It is tempting to say that these are just the antics of urbanite, middle- and upper-class Ghanaians who are eagerly adopting the zeitgeist of their Western compatriots. However, it would be disingenuous to say that their reasons are far-fetched.

We have all witnessed as some politicians have mismanaged the country to the detriment of citizens. Yet it is impractical to use this as a ruse to not take part in the electoral process. Pragmatism demands that we actually evaluate all the options available, whether they suit our preferences or not, because eventually one of them will be chosen to run the country.

Kwame Nkrumah votes in the July 1956 election
Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah votes in the Gold Coast election of 17 July 1956 (Central Press/Getty Images)

Beware wages of a wrong choice

The decisions that people who run our country take have a heavy influence on how our lives turn out.

It is the decisions of our policymakers that will determine everything from whether you can get a good education to whether the business climate is good enough for you to start that small business. As such, it is simplistic to declare that voting brings nothing to the electorate when there are hefty repercussions of having the wrong people in power.

Indeed, not voting makes it easier for politicians to hold on to their power, because their supporters alone can take them to victory.

https://twitter.com/lovelyguygh/status/1333452577539821571?s=21

It would be equally ironic for these same individuals who say they have decided not to vote to hold our leaders to account. Granted, every citizen has the right to hold up the public officials they pay to scrutiny; but one could argue that the credibility of the scrutiniser is reduced several notches when it is revealed that they did not partake in elections at all.

After all, what gives you the moral right to criticise someone whom you had no hand in rejecting or accepting in the first place?

Let us not fall prey to idealism that solves nothing and creates a sense of despondency. Voting is too crucial a process just to leave to fate.

That does not mean  we should end our efforts at voting. The onus is on us to hold our leaders accountable once they are elected – for, indeed, that is how we can fight to create the Ghana that we want.

Deo volente!

Barima Peprah-Agyemang

Barima Peprah-Agyemang (@fremebarima) is a writer and co-founder of Akensie, a newly released Ghanaian trivia app now available on App Store. He resides primarily in Sunyani in his native Bono Region

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