"Our Democracy With A Revolution Forehead"

" Our Democracy With A Revolution Forehead \r\n\r\n Since Jan 7 when a new President was inaugurated, I have been having nightmares about what it means to declare a Cons@tu@on Day, only to realize it was the outdooring of a new brand of democracy, with a revolu@on forehead.\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Cons@tu@onal democracy is like a tortoise: too slow, too boring. No chooboei ,\u00a0 no red eyes, no red bands; the neighborhood is too quiet; indiscipline is too\u00a0 \u2018mooch,\u2019 with big thieves getting away with crime. So then democracy needs red eyes and a little stimulant to make it people-friendly. Our political history of\u00a0 revolu@on over a greater part of 1979 to 2000 gives a clue on how Ghana\u2019s tortoise rule of law can be cured, and which party is best qualified for that. It is this backdrop that gives a new meaning to the January inauguration and its aftermath. \r\n\r\n But this new era has its own lingo. Power is not transferred, it is seized; outgoing\u00a0 officials do not resign, they are sacked; and unwilling allies could be assisted by\u00a0 mobs who are \u2018now in power.\u2019 They could literally overthrow you by throwing you out the window. Every now and then, there are dismissals leMer of various categories of workers \u2018with immediate effect,\u2019 and without explana@on. When the momentum slackens, an order comes from nowhere to effect mass arrests just to make headline news and please the masses. That is what a revolu@on\u00a0 means: poli@cs with red eyes.\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But it also comes with pomp and pageantry. On \u2018my first day at school,\u2019 incoming officers do not go alone; they jay-walk in style, flanked by men of muscle with\u00a0 chan@ng throngs singing \u2018abokyi\u2019 parts and blowing fuse behind. What is\u00a0 revolu@on without a little fuse?\u00a0 \r\n\r\n It's three months now since elec@ons, but hearts are s@ll pumping; looted stores\u00a0 are slowly bouncing back; in evidence are smoldering remains of police sta@ons\u00a0 and markets set ablaze. Offices of enemy forces ransacked; open seizure of vehicles and property considered stolen or ill-gotten. The daylight house\u00a0 invasion of an ex-minister who is out of the country, leaving wife and relations at the\u00a0 mercy of armed men (ouuchhh!) Then this horror: electoral officers held hostage by mobs and thugs, PCs and legislators included; and while under siege, advised\u00a0 to declare elec@on results. Three months after voting one constituency still awaits results, which can\u2019t be declared for fear of riots. \r\n\r\n Even our legislature was infected by the virus: the debris of broken tables and chairs left by lawmakers (and breakers) in a historic midnight scuffle.\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But the parliamentary brawl drew the fury of taxpayers, who had prepared to issue a \u2018groundbreaking\u2019 public announcement: \u2018Since they have broken and\u00a0 destroyed furniture at the chamber, we hereby require all parliamentarians henceforth to carry their own chairs and tables to Parliament.\u2019 As for those who during the midnight clash, took refuge under tables and had a ball or two squeezed by enemy forces, this is regrettable and demonstrates the risks to which male legislators are exposed in their day-to-day duties.\u00a0\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Yet, in the true spirit of the times, legislators have acted out their roles as required by titles. Besides making laws, there is a residual role of \u2018fighting for roads, fighting for schools, fighting for hospitals in their communities. If so, do you blame them for fighting for amenities with fisticuffs? As for chief whips and their deputies, they did the right thing whipping their opponents as required by their titles. The entire midnight riot then triggers a new maxim our legislators should consider: \u2018If force fails use persuasion.\u2019\u00a0 \r\n\r\n In truth then, a camouflaged revolu@on is currently underway within a constitutional democracy triggered by a peaceful election. This demonstrates how an electon victory is best celebrated; through mayhem. Victory then can\u00a0 pose a danger, compelling celebrants to say \u2018I was so happy I took to violence.\u2019 But of course losers were not an exception, they joined the fray and looted to help themselves and the celebrants.\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But we should have seen this coming. The peak of the grand 7 th January Inauguration ceremony was the arrival of a revolu@onary neighbor who stepped up to greet our dear leader and received the biggest ova@on among all Leaders introduced to the teeming crowd. Captain Ibrahim Traore was his name, the young military Head of Burkina Faso who seized power in 2022. Receiving a hero\u2019s welcome in Ghana meant a lot. \r\n\r\n Has Ghana\u2019s appetite been whelmed for a Traore? There was more. Comrade Traore felt so much at home that he wore on his hips a pistol that was not a toy gun. And when they were shoulder to shoulder,\u00a0 he whispered in JM\u2019s ear a message that aroused curiosity but sounded good enough to draw Mahama\u2019s dimpled smile. A GNA reporter would have nailed\u00a0 it: \u2018the mouth-to-ear whisper was believed to be in the general interest of the\u00a0 subregion.\u2019 For JM, the smile may have implied: \u2018Comrade, keep going, I will\u00a0 soon follow;\u2019 or rather \u2018Comrade, keep it on; I am already doing it but don\u2019t tell\u00a0 anybody.\u2019\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But these were events well-choreographed. The week before, JM\u2019s Umbrella party had commemorated J. J.\u2019s 31 st December Revolution, otherwise banned by the Supreme Court in 1994. JM clearly meant \u2018Yente gyae.\u2019 As my Kwahu friend would say in translation, \u2018We don\u2019t hear stop.\u2019 The recent celebraton was almost full scale: march pasts, red berets, red bands, red eyes and all, and peaked with a lively chant of the revolution anthem that is no more hummed.\u00a0\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Revo revo revolution\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Has a long way to go\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But has come to stay\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Cadres may go cadres may come\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But the revolution has come to stay\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Revo revo revolution \r\n\r\n Has a long way to go\u00a0 \r\n\r\n But has come to stay. \r\n\r\n This was Ghana after the 2024 democratic elections.\u00a0 \r\n\r\n Altogether then, why not say a \u2018General Dramani\u2019 is back in charge of our\u00a0 democracy:\u00a0 \r\n\r\n A Democracy with a Revolution forehead.\u00a0 "

"Our Democracy With A Revolution Forehead"

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