#bloggingmoment

It’s already been a week and the we just observed a minute silence at 2:15pm. I’m not sure how well this turned out with our unsynchronised clocks but the whole atmosphere is mournful. I’ve seen a number of gatherings (coffinless funerals) today. A lot of people are in black and red funeral clothes and a lot more have red strips of cloth tied around their arms or on their cars, trucks, taxis and bicycles. I’m in an office building and the there’s a TV or radio in the next room playing atɛntɛbɛn music. There’ve been commemorative church services. But considering the way Ghanaians like funerals, all this could just be for celebration or events sake. The front pages of the dailies haven’t changed much, and most people are eager to find out who the vice will be.

I’m only nineteen. At best, I’ve been aware of Ghana’s political landscape for at most 7 to 8 years. That one saf, not into any detail. So all these names put up as popular candidates for the vice role are some-what strangers to me. Betty-Mould would not have been since she’d been active and on the news a lot more before this whole Woyome issue came up. If she’s innocent, I think it’s sad she’s not being recognized because of the judgement debts scandal. #whatscandalscando! If she’s not then, it’s just a sad ending for her

Amidst all this, I have a number of thoughts and questions lingering on from all the conversations that followed last Tuesday’s news.

Can a person be too good for politics? I’ve heard remarks like “oh he was too good for politics”. But I’m wondering how politics will become clean if it’s left to dirty hands. On the issue of a selecting a new veep, not directed at any candidate, I’m wondering if youthfulness, gender, northern/southern descent, or religion should be regarded stronger than an individual’s personal traits. After all, anyone could be young, female or from the south. Does that mean anyone can be president? I understand if you have a bias towards these factors. Perhaps you think it’ll be good to have a female president but I think character is ultimate. 

I haven’t seen any official report from the government on what he died of. But the BBC (apparently a hospital) said it was throat cancer here in this article. I’m not sure what their sources are but it’s been taken as a fact instead of an opinion. In Rawlings interview he casually said it was a cancer in a BBC interview. It’ll help if an official statement was released to clear all doubts.

On Saturday I heard panellists on 101.3FM which happens to be BBC again discussing his death and compared it to Yar’Adua’s. If it was a terminal illness, were we mature enough as a country to know? In the spirit of transparency, I understand why it would have been nice to have been told but look at the kind or media houses we have in the country at present. The kind that can blow things out and in fact, the kind that killed him several times before last Tuesday. It’s not like he was bedridden or on life support. One of the panellists said if the president is being paid by the tax payer then he should have said so or resigned. But did his situation make him incompetent these past 3 and half years. Because you know who’s also paid with your tax? The government school teacher in that village who chooses when to go to work and the national service worker. But do you complain? So his salary being your tax is not so much a big deal as compared to him doing the job, especially if he wasn’t in it for the money.

We’re all wondering and speculating what the next 6 months have to offer and how December turns out. I’m an unaffilited voter, and there are a lot more undecided voters out there. So my best bet is we wait and see.

#Peace!