…It’s A Make Or Break For Us As A Nation And As A People: I Pray You Allow History To Treat You & Your Legacy Well…

‘MOMENTS IN HISTORY’ are akin to ‘making irrevocable decisions’ like the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar with his army, thereby starting a civil war in Rome in early January 49 BC. Crossing the Rubicon has become an idiom, meaning “passing a point of no return”.

Such moments in history are times when people of various positions of national trust, invariably arrogate to themselves the discharges of certain ‘miscarriages’ of justice for selfish reasons or interests; in order to abort the collective destinies of a nation and a people; as well as for the simple reason that they have been influenced to reach a point, where they cannot change a decision or course of action to the parochial interest of a certain group or political party.

In such instances, ‘crossing the Rubicon’ is taken as doing something that one cannot later change and for which, such action will strongly influence future events of a people and or a nation; knowing that in such instances, the stakes constitute really risky investment of time and effort, or dangerous choices that could have dire consequences for the person or persons, who made the decision (s) against the national interest.

One such moment in Ghana’s history is the forthcoming Saturday, 7^th December, 2024 General Elections to elect the President and Members of 9^th Fourth Republican Parliament to be organized by the Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG).

Since the advent of the Fourth Republican dispensation, we have had three (3) Chairmen of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG), the official body in Ghana responsible for all public elections. Made up of seven (7) members, its independence is guaranteed by the 1992 Ghana Constitution. The current commission was established by the Electoral Commission Act (Act 451) of 1993. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan was the first substantive chairman of the Commission, from 1993 to 2015. He was succeeded by Charlotte Osei as the first female chairman of the commission from 2015 to June 2018. Jean Adukwei Mensa, my dear friend’s wife, succeeded Charlotte Osei in July 2018. On December 5, 2018, the Electoral Commission chaired by Jean Adukwei Mensah reverted to the old logo showing the Coat of Arms of Ghana and a ballot box showing the hand casting its votes, after the controversy over the then new logo. (WIKIPEDIA)

Truth be told, the 2020 National Elections, under the hand of my dear friend’s wife, has been the most controversial in the history of the Fourth Republican dispensation, or for that matter, since Ghana’s Independence in 1957; especially as we are yet to be informed on the final gazetted results for the Presidential elections, considering the fact that four (4) different results were declared one after the other in a typical circus setting.

For those of us in the new dispensation of life after the 2^nd Republic, especially those who missed out on the circus shows: they showcased a group of entertainers, sometimes with trained animals, who perform skillful or amusing acts in shows that travel around to different places – from village to village, with performances, which included concert dramas like ‘CANTATA’, ‘CINDRELLA’ and ‘EGYANKABA (the orphan)’, magic and acrobatics. In short, they are just deceits of the innocent and the uneducated.

This is how the politics of now have turned out to be. Those who couldn’t stand the sight of the late Prof. J. E. A. Mills, insulting him for good measure, included some of his past students of the Law Faculty of the University of Ghana (UG), who now think ‘they have reached’ and therefore they could for the sake of politics ‘spell’ him for good measure. Funnily, such gentlemen and ladies now can’t stand the same insults that they rained non-stop on him.

You will remember, one lady who is an MP in Accra, stopped her Landcruiser in the middle of the street to return the insults from her constituents, forgetting it was ‘karma’ balancing its accounts.

The 2024 General Elections, in general terms, the ‘third coming of President Akufo-Addo’ in the shadow of candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the 5^th Vice President of Ghana’s Fourth Republic; to the extent that the mantra – ‘BREAKING THE EIGHT’ was prominently first coined, perfected and announced by him in one of those moments, assured that with my dear friend’s wife at the helm of affairs, it will be like ‘GUTTER, GUTTER’ play or game.

We should also not lose sight of the principle that with the President acting as the ‘village boy owner’ of the elections ball, he could always seize the ball, when for any reason, the situation looks like his team is slated for losing the game.

It is for this reason and the fact that the coming 2024 Elections has been given various titles, including ‘DO OR DIE’, ‘ALL DIE BE DIE’ and or ‘NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER’, that I have found it necessary to caution my dear friend’s wife, reminding her that “THIS IS YOUR MOMENT IN HISTORY” and like Julius Caesar at the point of crossing the Rubicon, we should all be mindful of the consequences from any indiscretions, which will have the propensity to throw us all under the bus of a ‘STOLEN VERDICT’ of any sort.

MAN, when he gets to positions of authority, influence, rule, power, prestige, command, mastery, might, esteem, supremacy, dominion, clout, and or jurisdiction of any sort, tend to forget his or her humble beginnings, including the campaign periods, when he was begging for the opportunity to serve or rule’ and now to ‘LORD IT OVER THE SAME PEOPLE’, before whom he once begged for the post.

Such are the manifestations of man, who when he desires positions of power and authority, he would go to any extent; and then when he assumes same power changes his lifestyles to become a ‘TYRANT’ of a different sort, visiting oppression and wickedness on the same people he sought the power from: maybe, that is one of the mysteries of power, we are yet to appreciate.

POWER; POLITICAL POWER has the tendency to turn the most docile person into an autocrat, bully, despot, dictator, oppressor, inquisitor, authoritarian and slave driver, amenable of saying the most abominable matter or subject in public, without minding the consequences of the effect of the utterances, even if it will hurt a particular tribe or people – showing or exhibiting such levels of insensitivity, which if it had been said by another person of a different political persuasion would have resulted in a local ‘war’.

What we always forget, in whatever field of endeavour we find ourselves, is that whatever goes around, comes around.

You see: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” (‘AS YOU LIKE IT’ – a play by William Shakespeare)

Shakespeare compared the entire world to a stage in his poem, ‘All The World’s A Stage’. We are all mere players in this stage of life. Shakespeare presents a philosophical reflection of life as he exhibits each stage undergone by man, during his course of a life here on earth.

‘YES’ a poem by Judy Garland (an inverse reflection of life)

A clown with his pants falling down

Or the dance that’s a dream of romance

Or the scene where the villain is mean.

That’s entertainment!

The lights on the lady in tights

Or he bride with the guy by her side

Or the ball where she gives it her all.

That’s entertainment!

The plot can be hot, simply teeming with sex

A gay divorcee who is after her ex

It could be Oedipus Rex

Where a chap kills his father and causes lots of bother.

The clerk who is thrown out of work

By the boss who is thrown for a loss

By the skirt who is doing him dirt

The world is a stage, the stage is a world of entertainment!

It might be a fight like you see on the screen

A swain getting slain for the love of a queen

Some great Shakespearean scene

Where a ghost and a prince meet, and everyone ends in mincemeat.

The guy who was waving the flag

That began with the mystical hand

Hip hooray! The American way

The world is a stage, the stage is a world of entertainment!

(Songwriters: Arthur Schwartz / Howard Dietz)

What we all forget is that this world is akin to the mystical world of puppets, we all come to play a part and when it is time, we exit for some other people to enter the same stage for their own parts in the same play.

It is for the same reason that I wish to inform my dear friend’s wife, the ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER to be mindful of the stormy clouds hanging over us as a nation and as a people; refuse to be manipulated in any way or form by any political actors and do just the right thing, including the attempt to do away with the indelible ink during the 2024 National Elections on 7^th December.

I would also recommend that all the political parties are impressed up to involve themselves with all the preparations towards the coming elections; and that this will be the time that nobody will be reported as shot to death. Not even one person’s life is worth any loss.

Need I say more, especially as all of us know, we are in dire straits…

Article by Magnus Naabe RexDanquah, the ‘Ghanaian’