The paradox of a Northern politician

The South is best understood as an exceptional region inside Ghana, with a unique political and cultural milieu birthed by the intersection of progress and development.

This region has created the best of productive citizens, if not excellent to say.

This pictorial description of how flourish the South is, is due to the character and behavior of the inhabitants of the place who drive policies in the day-to-day affairs of the place. These people, normally politicians, have a broader outlook of issues regarding the development of the region than any other person. The catholicity of Southern political leader is the direct opposite of what we have in the north here.

The Northern political drivers are bravely egoistic to the people they serve, they (northern politicians) only show concern whenever they need the people to execute a political decision in their favour and that is bad of a society with a greater Muslim population which preaches righteousness and practise selfishness.

The Southern politician won’t be impressed by establishments in politics. He is gonna be skeptical about elites. The Southern politicians doesn’t necessarily represent the people in any portfolio they find themselves; they are only representing a way of life. A way of life which is helping others grow as part of building the human resource base.

The way of life of these Southern politicians are anchored in the way they receive their people whenever they visit the national capital just like they would receive them at their traditional homes. 

Whiles the Southern politician uses its hospitality coupled with humanitarian values learnt from the north to raising the youth in various spheres of human endeavors, most of the Northern politicians rather use their organisational superiority to colonise the youth and the aging population.

This colonisation syndrome is not set up for the benefit of the colonised but to exploit and make money from them and their resources. The Northern part of Ghana has ailing issues that are caused by people; most especially, politicians from the north.

These include and not limited to low levels of education, poor water quality and lack of appreciable infrastructure for the very limited number of doctors to work in.

In the northern enclave, citizens are always at war with politicians because of neglect and corruption-related matters. The bane of corruption by politicians has made monies earmarked for development not to reach the people who need it most and spending on areas such as education and infrastructure may be insufficient.

Corruption by political leaders is intentional and deliberately targeted to cripple the upcoming generation who are hell-bent on challenging the status quo. With that, the politician withholds funds meant for the educational development of the people so that no one has the knowledge to be able to intelligently question the status quo and to better provide an alternative representation better than what they are currently experiencing.

In the North here, the way of life of the people are being thrown away by most greedy politicians. That is why the Assin Central MP described the Northern Branch of politicians as ‘greedy and selfish ‘ in the way they treat their people.

Some might see his description as unfair to some politicians who could be doing well, but, on a larger picture, his point of view was the exact replica of MOST Northern politicians. Which is why you hardly see most Northern politicians touting about their achievements in their respective portfolios.

But what I can authoritatively say on behalf of most Northern politicians as their achievements are: attending naming ceremonies, funerals and weddings of the people and intelligently creating and fueling factionalism among the governed to achieve his parochial interests. Those are the achievements that reninue of Northern politicians get from their toils.

The virtues of being your neighbors keeper and a child to the whole community or society are no longer practicable. Northern politicians prefer praise singing to that of providing jobs to the people, they prefer the people worshipping them to that of developing the region; and they prefer providing very temporary gains that would keep the people dependent on them.

Whiles the Southern politician is based on the belief that the growing youth population must be provided with jobs and entrepreneurial skills to be able to refocus growing others into the future, the Northern politician believes in the youth dependence of his undertakings that only last for a short period of time.

The dependence syndrome by the Northern politician is anchored on the belief that it will serve as bait as the people would only make themselves available when they depend on him/her.

I know for sure that people value different things as a priority going forward just like political regulators of both South and North do. Most politicians in the North value the joy of the people sitting under politically constructed canopies playing ‘OWARE’ above having more money, more education, or even better health.

Those politicians are ever ready to replace worn-out games played under those constructed canopies but never at ears to the cries of the unemployed youth among them. What has the people of the north done to deserve such treatment from the very people who grant them power?!

For a better future of the northern sector, the northern political leadership needs to take up the northern challenge to have a common agenda for the north irrespective of which political party is in power.

My advice as a disappointed but focused young politician is: Don’t just sit down there waiting for a politician’s favour. They (most politicians) have disappointed trillions of people,  even revered chiefs than you can imagine. Get something doing, no matter how small it might be and be focused.

Source: Abdul-Razak Lukman 

Email: [email protected]