In any civilized polity such as ours, politicians typically pledge to deliver certain ‘goods’ if they are voted into office and when the electorates believe in a candidate’s vision and trust her, they give her the nod. The goods could range from coffee, infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, to issues like the protection of the freedom of association and assembly. The relationship then is based on trust. Voters expect to see what the leader has promised to do once she is in office. Since the state is too large for everyone to see all projects completed, the governed expect the governor to report the truth of what has been done nationwide.
What happens if the leader tells the citizenry she built a school that does not exist? What if she tells the rest of the civilized world that her citizens are living in luxury while they cannot afford a cup of coffee? This may be similar to the Africa rising narrative which proclaims a booming Africa while Africans are experiencing hard economic times, rightly described by political economist, Dr. Franklin Obeng-Odoom as a ‘crisis joke.’ Anyone who has read introductory economics whether in high school, or at university level would have come across the terms ‘normative economics’ and ‘positive economics.’ In simple terms, positive economic issues are usually matters of fact. Economists generally agree for instance that a persistent rise in price levels of goods and services is inflation. This is a positive economic phenomenon. Two economists may however disagree on the effect of this rising price level. The latter case implies subjectiveness, normative economic thoughts.
In our example of the government promising to build a school, one of two things can happen. The school may actually be built or not. The school, if constructed may be judged to be beneficial, well-built or not, by various people. It is not plausible to say the school exists when it cannot be seen. Except that the structure was destroyed by some disaster or that maybe we like to turn this basic development fact to philosophy.
What happens if in addition to deceiving the governed that the school exist the leader congratulates herself and calls on the governed to celebrate the construction of the non-existent school? If the relationship travelled through this path then the leader misgoverned her people by creating a fictional economy, made fun of their misery and applauded herself for her unfaithfulness and cruelty.
Both the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party have taken turns to govern Ghana. The tragedy of the Fourth Republic is that Ghanaians and the politicians have been living in different countries. In 2008, the NPP was voted out based on what the ‘majority,’ spurred by the NDC, called ‘suffering.’ But now the NPP is seeking to govern and reminding us that life in those days was better. Currently, the same ‘majority,’ spurred by the NPP says we are ‘suffering’ so they are bringing ‘change.’ But the incumbent NDC says they have done what NPP is promising to do. It is even said that ‘Ghana is an icon.’ The party has also sent out a Green book, which is a collection of achievements the people say do not exist. The gospel of the Green book among others is that massive infrastructure has been built, the foundation for a takeoff is in place, and a second chance for the incumbent would set us on an irreversible path to development.
So will the NPP, if voted into power free us from the suffering? I don’t know. All I know is that for so long we have lived in a utopian booming economy similar to the biblical promised land of milk and honey. I know that our current president much like his predecessors has made comedy out of our suffering and self-congratulated himself for abating the suffering. The choice on who to vote for depends on whose governance will be less fictional, comical and a little self-congratulatory.
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