Ghana has just emerged victorious after a keenly contested election. Usually, before, during and after election, Peace campaigns and messages flood our media spaces, since the electioneering campaigns are always accompanied by inflamed passions.
Gradually we are improving, many people have taken to social media to commend the Electoral Commission for what has been described as one of the best elections we have had in Ghana.
I have personally avoided talking or making any politically related comments because of how people easily get tagged, sometimes an innocent comment someone makes breeds hatred which can last for a lifetime.
I was also not really keen on voting, but this year 2020, I decided to go out and vote. To me, I was just going to express an opinion and contribute to the growth of the country.
My husband had voted earlier in the day, when I ask him what political party he voted for, he mentioned Party A, he knew I wasn’t going to vote for Party A, I voted Party B but that got us teasing and anxiously waiting for who “spoilt their vote or not”
At the end, when the election results were declared, my husband came home with vuvuzelas for us to play, it was a happy home.
Even though we disagree along partisan lines, we (My husband and I) do not think that partisan politics is enough to introduce into our homes the slightest of disagreement.
I respect and tolerate his political ideologies.
The above scenario is what I believe should characterize our partisan politics and electioneering campaigns, for me, it should not be who has the loudest mouth or who can insult the most, it is an exchange of ideas on how the different parties intend to move Ghana forward to the development we all want.
As a Journalist who is passionate about development, I am interested in politics because of one major question which continues to linger on my mind.
How do we bridge the gap between policy that is written or formulated and what actually happens? I think that Ghana has excellent and brilliant policies that if well implemented could catapult this country’s development in leaps and bounds
Yet, many of the policies remain on paper and this cut across sectors, I have many examples of policies written and talked about and yet not being implemented.
And during the electioneering campaigns, Political party manifestos spell out a lot of their policies which only remain on paper. I always say that if even 50 per cent of the party’s manifestos get implemented, Ghana will be far ahead in terms of development.
Question is how do we translate these beautifully drafted and crafted policies into reality? For me as a media person, first, it requires the political will to do it.
Having the political will to do something can let a lot of magic happen, for example, people thought that Ghana’s economy was not strong enough to support free Senior High School Education, but here we are, it is a reality because of political will.
As a media person, I believe how I can contribute to make campaign promises and by extension policies some to life, is to report on the realities of daily life.
Putting my spotlight on the struggles and the high points of the average Ghanaian can do a lot and serves as feedback to the politician who is supposed to help make the policies work.
At this moment, I feel proud being a Ghanaian and may Ghana always win.
