As the old adage goes, “we charm and make friends by the qualities we display but maintain them by the qualities we have”.

Invariably, during electoral campaign periods, “listener beware” becomes a self-preservative caution that must be exercised by all citizens. Whatever virtues are evoked by the photoshopped images of politicians on huge billboards may well have been curated by impression entrepreneurs.

Beware: beneath their highly “religious” or “virtuous” patina, there may lie several layers of decadent pentimenti dating back to original sin.

False impressions, mischievous lies and vile propaganda abound during campaign seasons. This is no news. It has always been the unwritten rule.

However, this article explores the exception: how politicians achieve the reverse normalisation of their deceitfulness. Consequently, it examines some of the conditions which help their transfiguration into the best representatives with the highest virtues required for public office.

It proceeds by recognizing that politicians are creative geniuses: they are people who instinctively know the who, when, what and the how about lies, and tell the most lies where most power lies: the acquisition and control of state resources.
 
But there’s more truth about lying than we may be willing to admit. In fact, the powers that lie in us come from the hardwired evolutionary need to survive by outwitting and overcoming real or imagined dangers in our environment.

To begin with, lying encompasses a wide spectrum of creative speech performances and other behaviours motivated by our lying brain—the neocortex. Between the divine illumination of the so-called gods and the pitch darkness of Lucifer’s hell, all of us, at different times have had narrow escapes where a lie has made a cleft in rock for us in which we have hidden or been saved from danger.

It is therefore necessary that we come to terms with the use of speech or writing as one of mankind’s tools for deception and not just for purposes of conveying information.

Additionally, their uses for conveying false impressions instead of the truth, as morally perverse as it may seem, falls within the normal function of language. The neocolonial project embarked on throughout Africa by western countries offers great insights here. Being characterized by altruistic vibes and catchphrases like “development partners”, it has proved to be the smokescreen that has lured Africa into the Western lair.

They exemplify what Shakespeare said: “…look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it"(Macbeth). It also confirms Machiavelli’s thoughts: “for a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find” (Machiavelli, 17th May 1521).

The plain truth about lying is that it is often the outcome of the interplay of many social forces. Behind every liar, there is often a sick overbearing parent, a domineering or totalitarian boss or school headteacher, a corrupt society or organization whose internal working mechanisms, by-laws, or beliefs, etc., may elicit acts of strategic dishonesty from its members in order for them to feel safe, accepted or respected.

Aside from the individual, the organization and society, the state machinery itself can be progressively made sick when its “operating system” becomes infected and captured by “political malware”.

When this is successfully accomplished, the state machinery can be reengineered to limit, undermine, weaken or threaten the prospects of certain citizens or groups’ potential for self-actualization. Targeted citizens or groups may thus resort to creative dissimulation in order to survive.

Historical evidence abounds in which religious and political activists have adopted dissimulation to evade capture or death by despotic governments or religious institutions. The Islamic doctrine of taqiya, for example, allows Shia Muslims to conceal their faith under extreme danger and persecution as long as they preserved and treasured their religion in their hearts.

Living a lie that saves one’s life may be the truth about survival in ungodly situations and times. This dissimulation has been so rife in Ghanaian society in general, and particularly in its politics since constitutional rule. Most governments have misconducted themselves and made citizens believe that the welfare and comfort of the political elite is the first reason the state exists.

Consequently, democratic governments have made it their duty to ensure the selective prosperity of their family, friends and financiers. The legal normalisation and systemic naturalisation of this colonial idea have seldom been interrogated. Everything about it goes against some of the best Ghanaian cultural values and ideals where parents, as exemplary family leaders and mentors, take pride in sacrificing to make the lives and the world of their children better and safer.
 
Within this hierarchical framework adopted in the sharing of the national cake, nearly half of the population who belong to opposing parties, are expected to exercise exemplary constitutional patience to await their turn to be enriched or impoverished depending on the outcome of the next elections.

Such social circumstances in which resources and opportunities are shared or rationed in four or eight yearly turns makes objective truth a seasonal, divided or rationed phenomenon. Citizens and politicians alike, having divided the whole truth into bits and pieces among themselves, can only afford to speak half-truths, office tenure-truths, post-truths or self-preservative rational lies.

The fierce competition for power makes electoral campaign periods vulnerable to “political malware” infection and capture. As these conditions always persist, campaign periods invariably become opportune times when the social demand for greater inclusion and freedom from economic deprivation are high. As such, social reality during these times may be curated by talented impression entrepreneurs: spin doctors, campaign managers, journalists, graphic designers, serial callers, etc., to look dire and unsurmountable.

These curated conditions are often characterized by the supply of political promises whose elasticity may exceed the bounds of reality. Under such conditions, tongue-twisting sophistries, embedded with alluring alliterations as well as palpable lies from conmen and women become the dignified voices that inform the choices of the people.

The easy flow of raw liquid cash, the loud music and colourful flag bantings and the general razzmatazz of campaign times produce high levels of social oxytocin and catharsis in the voter population. Leading candidates have thus transfigured: messianic halos form around their omnipresent poster images. This helps the subsequent reception of their messages as panaceas that can fix the country.

These curated virtues projected towards candidates are taken for real and ably defended by impression entrepreneurs. Nothing under the sun may have the ability to uninstall their delusional power. State power may be used to consolidate it. This confirms how through speech and language we may not only hide our thoughts from others but paradoxically, be successful in lying to ourselves.

But the exercise of real power in government may prove totally different, and sooner than later, both rulers and the ruled may discover the mutual phantom they have created out of each other. This discovery may come like marriage to restore much-needed sight to blind lovers. It would herald the age of reason and soul searching. The beginnings of mass disillusionment and disengagement may create the cracks that would spawn the seeds that would grow the next generation of political liars and gullible voters.

By their nature, lies and propaganda are cyclical. Today, there are many such cyclical videos playing soundbites that are returning to their impression entrepreneurs. Invariably, they return because the truth they sought to supplant finally came to town. They are annoyingly undermining nearly every proposal of government because they came from the powers that lie in those politicians in government (pun intended).

Indeed, it is a fearful thing for the lying tongue to eat its own words, especially with the return of campaign season videos and unholy ghosts.  But in Ghana’s political world where lessons are seldom learnt, it is highly probable that the powers that lie in the opposition may also be exercised in the same reckless manner with time.
 
Given these developments, probably the next elections may be won by those who promise little and rather do more. This is because the power of time has successfully scraped away all the glitzy patina. The layers of decadent pentimenti are now visible. They loudly confirm that: if the fundamentals of the campaign season messages and promises are weak, the exchanges on our social media platforms, e-pockets, and Parliament will expose you.

******

The writer can be contained via email at amart1000@yahoo.com