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| President John Mahama |
By
Aidan Adongo Avugma
It
would not be too long. I mean in about eighteen months time, and Ghanaians
would be called upon to perform a ritual. They will be called upon to form long
queues to vote. They will elect a new President- John Mahama, Nana Akuffo Addo, Abu Sakara,
Samia Nkrumah, Ayariga or somebody else, we do not know. What we do know
however is that the Ghanaian Presidency embodies the roles of chief executive
legislator, head of the state commander-in-chief, and party leader. Beyond this
however, and more importantly, the Ghanaian presidential office also embraces
two other roles which the media either prefers to maintain a conspiracy of
silence on, or is completely ignorant of. The first is as guardian of Ghanaian
neo-colonial capitalism ie the role fulfilled by advancing of the wealth and
power of giant corporations from Europe, America and Japan, and wealthy
investors as well as their Ghanaian front men and women. The second is that of
protector of the wider economic system based on individual ownership and the extraction
of surplus value.
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| Opposition Leader, Nana Akufo Addo |
So
what fundamental difference would Nana Addo’s victory over John Mahama make to
the common man on the street or the work places in Ghana? The answer should be
simple and to the point. ZILCH. In practice the coming elections in 2016 is
little more than a public relations gimmick, when Ghanaians would be given at
least a few hours of democracy when they are on the long queues to elect an
emissary of the owning class in Ghana and abroad to safeguard; and if possible
to expand their class interest in another four years. Whether it is party A,B
or C that wins the election or Mr X,Y,Z that becomes the president , their
function would be one and only one-pursue policies that stimulates profit
regardless of the hardships that this may visit upon the wider population.
At the same time they must put up a political
garb that gives them the appearance of representing the interest and welfare of
the broad masses. This profit imperative that drives them, seem to be a calling
from an irresistible force ie the world‘s dominant economic system- capitalism.
So any election to government in society as presently constituted must bow to
the calling of this irresistible force by the choosing of one of the political
parties or presidential candidates that embrace the ideology of capitalism.
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| Akua Donkor, Founder of Ghana Freedom Party |
Government
has a class character. It is not the even handed arbiter between the business
man and the ordinary workers as most of us think; but the champion of the
owners of the means of production with its boundless constitutional right to
exploit ordinary working people. The function of government is to defend the
property right of this owning class- investors, giant corporations and front
men, to perpetuate their dominance over society, and correspondingly increase
the misery of the people and their impoverishment. Adam Smith was blunt about
this. He said “this necessity of civil government grows up with the acquisition
of valuable property…..Till there be property there can be no government, the
very end of which is to secure wealth, and to defend the rich from the poor”
The
owning class because of its monopolistic control over society’s means of
production and distribution, has overwhelming dominance over ;politics in
society; and because of this moulds all institutions customs and social
behavior to give expression to its own interest. Under these circumstances the
meaning of democracy has metamorphosed from what we understand to be the “rule
of the people” to a device that elects “a safe pair of hands” to protect
private property and control social and political life of the people. As a
result they put up a pretence that government represents workers while actually
pursuing an agenda that is anti-worker.
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| Abu Sakara Foster, Convention Peoples Party (CPP) |
In
order to maintain this pretence, control of public opinion is essential. The
media therefore is used to peddle lies and distortions to blur reality to
ensure the docility of workers and make them ineffective,. Their propaganda is
awash with praises for the virtues of the free market system designed to perpetuate
the falsehood that capitalism and democracy are synonymous. Whether the
Ghanaian electorate in 2016 will vote for Mahama , Nana Akuffo Addo or Abu
Sakara at this stage is difficult to see through the crystal ball. What is
incontestable however is that the outcome will not benefit the Ghanaian wage
and salary earning class.
In
fact, all the signs are that things will get worse. Whoever takes power in 2016
is going to engage in the further dismantling of the welfare mechanisms for the
poorest; and organized labour would be further weakened. The IMF and the World
Bank which represents Western business interest will surely certainly demand
the elimination of everything that interferes with the ruthless pursuit of
profits.
Editorial
Eurobond and All
There
is so much noise about the Eurobond for Ghana being oversubscribed that one
would be tempted to think that an event of life changing proportions has taken
place.
The
truth of the matter is that once again Ghana has borrowed one billion Euros
from the European Market.
What is so special about borrowing that our
media is awash with positions for and against the so-called Eurobond?
Should
a country like Ghana with resources such as gold, diamond, gas, oil, forests, twenty
five (25) or more million people, rivers and so on be borrowing all the time?
Our view is that if national resources are
properly harnessed and their theft by the giant corporations of the West
prevented, Ghana would not have to borrow.
It
is time for the people of Ghana to take their destiny into their own hands and
exploit their own resources for their own benefit.
This
is the way forward.
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