|
Christmas message for the wildebeest
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
December 28, 2008 will be a significant day in the annals of
Ghanaian history. Some have already labeled the presidential
runoff for that day as the handiwork of God.
However, if you were to ask me, I would say that that assignment
goes too far. God in his infinite wisdom has assigned us some
responsibilities too. Voting for the right candidate is our
responsibility. This thing about looking to God for everything
carries the risk of assigning our stupidity to him also! And the
risk grows stronger as we base all our political motives on the
word “change” without first understanding what that implies.
December 28 is about electing a leader for our nation. It is not
about “change” for “change” sake. It is about considering your
options – what each candidate or party brings to the political
place.
Fortunately, both the NPP and the NDC, the parties in the
presidential runoff, do have a huge track record. The NPP under
Kufuor and the NDC under Rawlings and then you can track forward
to the main contestants in the runoff, Nana Akufo Addo and Atta
Mills.
As you do so, remember that people get the leaders they deserve.
They also get “change” and the truth about change is that it can
sometimes be drastic, unpalatable and deadly.
Change for change sake should be frightening because we have
seen its handiwork in the past and it had nothing to do with
God. Change that had promised revolution and brought death
instead: death of ideas and death in human lives.
Unfortunately, the word "change" has a fascinating face value
for the ignorant at the moment. Like the wildebeest, he looks at
“change” as the opportunity to stampede. But we shall soon get
to the story of the wildebeest, this antelope-like beast of the
grassy plains of East Africa.
For this round of election in Ghana, change has become a
powerful concept. It is dominating the political landscape. It
has assumed a powerful propaganda utility and has gained strong
resonance among hearts and minds in Ghana ever since Barrack
Obama won the American presidency.
And like all slogans, as the resonance grows stronger the word
becomes denuded of its meaning. To restore meaning to this word,
all that is needed is to ask “Change for What?” That is the
question Ghanaians must ask before going to the polls on
December 28.
The ability to ask questions in order to avoid unpalatable
consequences is human. The wildebeest has no such attribute.
Change in the wildebeest kingdom means stampede. If the beast
next door breaks wind, gets frightened by his own noise, and
takes off, a whole host of wildebeest stampeding is likely to follow.
Very often, the wildebeest stampede will run through rivers with
strong currents that will pull many to death. They will run over
cliffs with the animals crashing to the ground below, one after
the other, with broken spines and many ending up dead – all
because one wildebeest downwind heard a noise. The foul smell
given by the neighbor upwind has now been interpreted as
“change.”
Well, don’t blame or laugh at the wildebeest. It is programmed
that way. It answers to nature's call. It eats up all the grass
in one area and when the season changes, since it cannot plant
anything itself, it will move elsewhere, hopefully, for greener
pasture.
The wildebeest has no notion of incremental improvement. It is
incapable of tracing the thread of good in his social fabric.
Nor does it understand that the patches of browns it sees in the
greenery can be improved with some slight amount of seedling.
Understandably, it has no ability of spreading the seed! It
must stampede for "a greener pasture" on the other side of the
fence and the effort is called "change" in its political
lexicon.
But the human being is not a wildebeest. And definitely the
Ghanaian is not. We have had experiences of the promise called
“change” in the past. The only change that came was our
circumstances were drastically altered for the worse.
That so many wildebeest do die in their stampede for a “greener
pasture” will count for immediate change for some – the hyenas
who otherwise would have died from hunger, and the lions that
regard them as reliable source of food.
In human terms, the
political hyenas regard our ignorance as fodder for power.
Don't be fooled by the charge for empty "change."
Change, as part of God’s will, is a powerful phenomenon in
nature and always a desirable outcome, especially when it is
necessary and needed in challenging circumstances that outstrip
the capability of the human brain. The sad part is this
“change,” as being offered in the current elections, is needless
and unnecessary, especially when it is being offered by a party
that had its turn for “change” for 19 years and failed to
deliver it.
For example, change was promised as “social justice.” They left
us “Soddom and Gomorrah.”
Sell that kind of “change” to the wildebeest.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja,Publsiher
www.ghanadot.com,
Washington, DC, December 25, 2008
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or
don't publish at all.
|
