One keeps hearing it over and over as if there is nothing to look forward to in this new year but the general election which by the way is at the tail end of the year. With just a couple of weeks into 2024, in almost every public discussion in the media or elsewhere, one cannot miss the over-used description of 2024 as an “election year”. 

One knows for sure that the current government and some members of Parliament will be retiring at the end of the year when we go to the polls as indeed many other countries are doing this year.

However, does one need the bombardment of reminders as if our survival depends on an election year or that one does not have a life to think about and plan for in 2024? 

Corporate institutions are busy with their strategies and plans for the year, be it for individual employees, teams or the organisation. So for them, 2024 as a new year is a big reminder.

One thing for sure is that with the IGP issuing a stern statement last December about “doom prophecies” that usually seem to characterise end-of-year or new year prophecies by some Churches, entry into 2024 or election year has been devoid of doomsayers. 

Optimism

As an individual who cares little about an election year, I have chosen to enter 2024 with so much optimism and so much to look forward to. Here we are therefore in what one will choose to describe as a new year to look forward to, in fact, the real 2024. 

There seems to be so much hope to plan one’s life with this leap year, after all, not all of us will live to see another leap year, young or old. For a politician that I never aspire to be, I have, therefore, decided to look into a positive year and not focus on an election year as some have chosen to describe it.

Vibes

The hint of a positive new year was dropped with the vibes I picked from those Ghanaians from the diaspora who came into town and brought so much hope with lots of fun into the holiday season. 

Those Ghanaians and some visitors as well came home in their numbers for the holiday season with some staying into the New Year, 2024. They came from across the Atlantic, Europe, Asia, other parts of Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East for some sanity, to enjoy the warmth of home and country.

No matter what, to them, Ghana is still the place to be to end one year and start a new one.

The information one gathered, no matter where the flight was from, planes were filled to capacity as they landed with holidaymakers at the Kotoka International Airport. The stories are clear that our kith and kin out there obviously see and appreciate something we here either do not see or fail to appreciate.

We have cause to complain about everything. We complain about the weather being too hot yet the diasporas wish they could have just one month of it this time of the year, eat good food, enjoy family and friends with countless celebrations in a relatively safe environment and sweat it out with much fun.

I laughed hard the other day with Investigative Journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, now in the US, referring to the weather over there as an “outdoor air-conditioning system”. Unfortunately for him, he never liked being in air-conditioned environments back home and today, there he is out there in a super oppressive freezing environment which sometimes defies layers of thermal clothing.

The other vibes picked for a promising new year were the positivity, fun and unstoppable determination of two young ladies of “sing-a-thon” and “cook-a-thon” fame. With determination to etch their achievements in singing and cooking for hundreds of hours non-stop, they both had Ghana on their minds. Theirs was to put the country’s name once again in the World Guinness Book of Records.

The election will come this year, regardless, but before then, let us enjoy the peace, freedom and privilege of a new leap year and enjoy the opportunities it will present. The election period can be oppressive looking at the kind of politics we practice here. 

It is a period of intense acrimony, lawlessness, indiscipline, insults, abuse, panic and fear. One does not need any of that for no matter our situation, one is better off where we are than in a noisy environment which keeps people indoors and knows no peace.

Let us rather be in a positive mood and remind ourselves that the real 2024 is here. Vibes of a promising 366 days of relative peace and harmony even if amid want is ours for the taking. 

It is a more valuable thing to have than to live with a constant reminder of promised chaos, noise, panic and lawlessness as sometimes characterise election periods. 

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The writer can be contacted via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com