Just two years into its four-year term, the current Ghanaian government is feeling the heat practically every day. Disaffection, dissatisfaction, disappointment, disillusionment, are just a few of the d-words that litter the Ghanaian geopolitical landscape these days and they are getting ever more vociferous, nasty and violent.
Demonstrations of the destructive kind are taking root: in the last two weeks alone, two such demonstrations have rocked the nation’s smug sense of security. Rampaging students of KNUST left in their wake images reminiscent of an urban war zone in Kumasi only two weeks ago and just this week, rampaging residents of Adenta in the nation’s capital also made their anger felt with their brand of urban warfare…
Have Grievance, Will Demonstrate! And so, the demos keep sprouting all over the place. Can there be a demo without song and dance? Raunchy profanities interlaced with words on the main grievances make up the lyrics! The massed voices, often accompanied by a brass band are generally good natured, until, that one mishap leads to the stampede of the herd!
Demonstrations are not the issue here. Demonstrations in free societies are considered an integral part of the democratic process. Even in some not-too-free societies, people are getting bolder and making themselves heard. Yes, that is not the issue: It is this rather unique development in the lyrics of contemporary Ghanaian demos that is providing an entirely new perspective: An electorate in contrition. The lyrics started appearing with the first tentative grouses against the government and are now a regular diet of many a demo in Ghana: The call for the return of President John Dramani Mahama. A very recent example is the demo embarked on Wednesday November 7 2018, by the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) in which the chants were loud and clear: “Mahama, we are sorry, Come back!”
If we rewind memory to 2016, Election Year, we will not fail to recognise teacher trainees, nurses, and others, among President Mahama’s most vociferous critics. Some may even argue that they were in the vanguard of the anti-Mahama crusade that eventually led to his ouster in those elections.
NDC must make no mistake! The call is for the return of JDM. In the 2020 Elections, there would be “Objective Voting” as well as “Sympathy Voting”. JDM is the only one who qualifies for both. If the NDC is strategic, that should be their strap to return to office in 2021. The demonstrators do not give a damn about Bagbin, Goosie, Spio, Alabi and indeed any of the other “aspirants”. It is JDM that the electorate is saying has been wronged and the expiation is to call for his return. Should the NDC miss this very clear signal, then, they should start working towards 2024 and beyond, not 2020. This is not a curse, but a lifeline…
Commentary by Oli A. Rahman
