Power of the People
By Dr. Ato Kwamena Danso · 11 July 2025 · Politics
The Electoral Commission has announced a rerun of the parliamentary election in Ablekuma North, following violent disruptions that led to the destruction of results from 19 polling stations. This comes after the Commission initially claimed it only needed security to collate results from three polling stations, a complete U-turn on their earlier position which clearly show the incompetence of those in charge of our elections. We queue for hours under the sun and rain, casting our votes to elect leaders, many of whom end up enjoying the perks of office and hefty ex gratia payments. And each time there’s a by-election, we whisper prayers for peace, because our history reminds us: it's the poor who bleed when the political class battles. Politics, like religion, has become the new opium, sedating the masses while empowering the few. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell democracy from autocracy. After all, in this "democracy," police beat those they swore to protect. Journalists are assaulted in broad daylight, while officers look on. Why should elections be a do-or-die affair? Even with a heavy police presence, a man plotting to harm his own people feels emboldened. That, more than anything, should terrify us.Sometimes, after watching yet another video of violence during a by-election, I ask myself: Who really holds the power? I was raised to believe that the power of the people is greater than the people in power, but these days, I’m not so sure. Not in our republic ! It's not hard to understand the growing apathy of the Ghanaian voter. When ballots are met with batons, and hope with hostility, even the most patriotic heart begins to falter. We have all the laws written in our books, yet we refuse to enforce them. Instead of building strong institutions, we are grooming chaos, raising hooligans on the streets while weakening the very systems meant to protect us. Yes, we can revisit history and speak of how the Oyibo mistreated us, how our ancestors were sent away in chains. But how do we justify the harm we now inflict on our own people? How do we explain the killing of our fellow citizens , not by colonizers, but by ourselves? These politicians will trade blame, point fingers at one another, and then retreat into silence, until the next by-election stirs them awake. We have entrusted all the powers of the IGP, who serves at the pleasure of the President. We have placed immense power in the hands of the IGP, who serves at the pleasure of the President. Since assuming office, he has inherited a nation at a crossroads, and this, right now, is his first true test It's deeply disheartening, Ato_KD