It is an indisputable fact that the Black Stars’ exploits during the 2006 World Cup as well as MTN CAN 2008 brought Ghanaians together, made us feel good and proud to be Ghanaians. Nevertheless, I think the said unity is only for a brief period because come election 2008, the peaceful and unifying atmosphere that we are enjoying now would be eroded for some time especially when the struggle for political power by the various political parties reaches its peak.

 

Several eminent persons in Ghana have advised Ghanaians to emulate the sense of unity and togetherness exhibited by the Black Stars. Indeed, the said advice is an excellent one, but one thing we should all bear in mind and not close our eyes on is that, the Black Stars were able to bring us together and exhibited great sense of unity and togetherness simply because, there was no unhealthy rivalry and competition among them. And this was because it was the only team that played on behalf of Ghana.

 

Indeed, it could be said that the Black Stars managed to bring Ghanaians together and exhibited great sense of unity and togetherness. This was because, the Black Stars acted like unity/union government, and therefore, if we have to achieve sustainable unity and peace in Ghana and Africa as a whole, then we have to reconsider the imposition of partisan/party politics on Africans and take the necessary BOLD STEPS to abolish it forever and ever, Amen.

 

We should never say anywhere that “because we have put our hands in the food of the old lady, we have to eat it by all means”. This Akan adage should not be used to compel us to continue to use party politics as a means of managing our human and natural resources. The Akan adage should apply at all when it comes to partisan politics because the question we need to ask ourselves is, what about if there is poison in the old lady’s food? Should we eat it by all means and die with her?

 

We have to redeem ourselves from partisan politics and all its appendages because it is doing more harm that good to us, it is doing more damage to our very survival, it is disintegrating the nations of Africa, one by one. It is softly killing Africans; it is destroying our peace and unity that we need to sustain our very survival; it is making the few privileged ones richer and richer and the poor majority, poorer and poorer. Party politics is directly or indirectly making us destroy one another.

 

Fortunately, we have our universities and house of chiefs. I believe these two institutions can easily and conveniently help us to develop/fashion God and man centered African Union Government that does not automatically generate unhealthy rivalry and competition, a system of government that can help us to exhibit great sense of unity and togetherness necessary for the holistic development of Ghana and Africa as a whole; a system of government that does not give room to our politicians to dole out our money to buy the conscience and votes of voters; a system of government that does not give room to our politicians to dole our money in such a way that the poor believe in manna from heaven without any serious efforts on their parts; A system of government that does not make our politicians dole our money that goes down the drain.

 

Whether we like to hear it or not, the nature of party politics is such that it automatically generates unhealthy rivalry and competition and a destructive fight. Indeed, party politics is a game of the survival of the fittest and therefore the poor majority in Africa should never allow the few privileged people who usually benefit greatly from it (to the detriment of the poor majority) to deceive the poor to think that party politics is the best system of government simply because it allows the electorates to choose the person that they want to be the head of state or member of parliament and that it promotes freedom of speech/expression.

 

Today, the freedom of expression in partisan politics is full of destructive lies about political opponents and in most cases, the perpetrators of this evil freedom go scout free in the name of freedom of speech. Some politicians even boast of it to make us think that it is acceptable in life, especially in partisan politics. I believe by now majority of us who are able to call a spade a spade, have come to realize the mistake that we have made as an African nation in removing the criminal libel law in our statutes books. Because we have failed to recognize that by God’s Grace, we are very different from Americans and Europeans we are always forcing ourselves to imitate them in almost every way to the extent that we find it very difficult to believe in ourselves and appreciate the products of our own hands.

 

What does it profit a nation that stands in the scorching sun for several hours to choose a political leader through the ballot box and at the end of the day is unable to enjoy sustainable peace, unity, tranquility and calmness for its holistic development, and that at the end of the day, majority of its people grow poorer and poorer?

 

Those who are imposing party politics on Africans know very well that it is indeed too expensive for African nations that are HIPC and that it is too difficult for us to control the appendages of partisan politics that deprive humanity of sustainable peace, unity, tranquility and calmness. Yet, they want to find every possible means, whether good or bad, to force it on Africans. They do this to us because, it is their main tool that they use to control us, dominate us and make us do what they want and not what we want. In other words, partisan politics is a tool that is being used to deprive us of our genuine political and economic independence.

 

Coming back to the exploits of the Black Stars, I would like to state categorically and without any fear of contradiction that they chalked so much success during the 2006 World Cup and the MTN Can 2008 because they displayed unity of purpose. Where there is unhealthy rivalry and competition, there is always the peddling of destructive lies, scare-mongering and destructive fight that destroys unity of purpose and togetherness, which are very necessary for rapid nation building.

Nobody can sincerely say that there was genuine unity of purpose, togetherness, peace and tranquility among all the football fans and the players who gathered for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The several yellow and red cards that were shown by referees to offending players and even coaches, the heavily hooting of football fans, brutalities and wickedness exhibited on the field by some players to weaken their opponents in order to rob them badly of the football, as the weeping and death of some football fans, go a long way to demonstrate that all was not well with the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the MTN CAN 2008 in Ghana. All these unfortunate incidents happened because, nations were put into a kind of competition that automatically generated unhealthy rivalry and competition.

 

The painful stadium disaster that Ghanaians witnessed on May 9, 2001 should help us to believe and accept the indisputable fact that any game that automatically generates unhealthy rivalry and competition cannot easily help people to have unity of purpose and togetherness. Because of some passing material gains, we can close our eyes or ignore the said indisputable fact and behave as if we are united. The fact will still remain that any game that automatically breeds unhealthy rivalry and competition can never bring us together as a nation and therefore it will be very difficult for us to have sustainable unity of purpose for rapid and holistic development of our nation. Our political and economic atmosphere will always be like the cow dung. You might think that because the surface is dry the underneath is also dry. It is only when you step on it that you come to realize that underneath is not dry at all. Even those who claim to be masters of multi party democracy are always thrown into confusion, unhealthy rivalry and competition whenever their political parties begin to compete for the seat of government.

 

We have been brain washed and deceived to believe that partisan politics is the best way of politicking but the numerous appendages of party politics portray partisan politics as nothing else but naked pursuit of power to promote vested interest rather than national interest. It can therefore be said that partisan politics is more concerned about vested interest than national interest. Therefore, those of us who are being ruled, should wake up and reconsider our adoption of multi party democracy.

 

The multi party democracy that we practice in Ghana and Africa as a whole makes it very difficult for a party in government to master the necessary courage to ensure discipline in the state. This is because of the fear of losing votes from those who need to be disciplined for flouting rules and regulations necessary for the rapid development of the nation.

 

Africans should believe and accept the fact that as long as we continue to practice multi party democracy, it will be very difficult for us to achieve sustainable unity, peace, tranquility and calmness that are very necessary for the rapid socio-politico-economic development of our continent. Let us not keep a blind eye on how multi party democracy is threatening and disintegrating African nations one by one.

 

Let us believe and accept the indisputable fact that Black Africans are different in many ways from Europeans and Americans and therefore we should not allow them to use all kinds of subtle means to force us to buy every idea that they sell to us.

We should not allow our ‘’self –imposed ‘’ poverty to force us to imitate everything that they do. Let us not only be consumers who are always at the receiving end. Let us try to use our money to produce more thinkers, initiators and inventors. Let us believe and accept the truth that God has made black Africans in such a wonderful way that we are capable of taking our own destiny into our own hands.

 

With God on our side, we need not be afraid of the challenges that we shall face if we take the necessary bold steps to abolish multi party democracy and fashion our own African democracy that is God and man centered. A system of government that is free from unhealthy rivalry and competition so as to achieve sustainable unity of purpose, togetherness and true unity for the rapid and holistic development of Africa.

 

After all, democracy is nothing else but a system of governance or government whereby, the people of a nation determine the way and manner they want to rule themselves, or manage their nation without any unnecessary interference from any quarters, as well as taking their own destiny into their own hands. Therefore, if tomorrow, majority of the people in a particular country decide to take bold steps to abolish multi party democracy for ever and ever and adopt union government that is free from the appendages of partisan politics, the said bold steps is hundred percent democratic.