Ghana’s Biggest Political Problem Is Not Politicians, It Is Us
Ghana’s Biggest Political Problem Is Not Politicians, It Is Us
Ghanaians love one thing more than jollof debates: complaining about politicians.
Everywhere you go, politicians are thieves. Politicians are useless. Politicians are wicked. Politicians are the reason Ghana is where it is today.
Fair enough. But here is the uncomfortable question nobody wants to ask: Where do we think these politicians come from?
They don’t fall from the sky. They don’t pass through a divine membrane. They are not imported from Mars. They come from Ghanaian parents, Ghanaian homes, Ghanaian schools, Ghanaian churches and mosques, and they are elected by Ghanaian citizens.
In other words, the politicians we complain about are our own reflection. Politics is not a mystery; it is a mirror. Garbage In, Garbage Out
Every system produces what it is fed.
A broken system cannot produce excellence.
When a society rewards shortcuts, dishonesty, entitlement, and selective morality, it should not be shocked when leaders display the same traits only on a larger scale.
If we have selfish, ignorant citizens, we will produce selfish, ignorant leaders.
If we have citizens who hate rules unless they are suffering, we will elect leaders who bend rules once they gain power.
Let no one deceive themselves:
Most of us would become exactly the kind of politicians we complain about if we got close to power.
The problem is not power. The problem is who we are before power meets us.
The KFC Test
Here is a simple experiment._
The taste of KFC in the UK has been consistent for years.
The taste of KFC in Ghana? That one depends on the mood of the staff, the availability of oil, the size of today’s chicken, and whether the supervisor is around.
Same brand. Same recipe. Different systems. Different attitudes.
That alone explains why Ghana struggles more than it should.
The Author
Dependency Is Our Silent National Culture
Since the days of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana has been looking up to donors. Independence came, but dependency stayed.
We still behave like help must come from outside, from the white man, from the IMF, from some mysterious foreign savior. Even our development plans sometimes sound like prayer requests.
And culturally, we reinforce it with wisdom like:
“Ɔfa bewu ama me adi adeɛ” my uncle will die and leave me property, so I’ll be fine.
So people do nothing.
They wait.
They hope.
They expect life to arrange itself.
Prayer Without Responsibility
We pray a lot in this country on Tuesdays, Fridays, watch nights, dawn prayers, and midnight prayers.
There’s nothing wrong with prayer. But prayer without discipline, integrity, and personal responsibility is just noise with spiritual background music.
You can pray all night and still refuse to change your bad attitude to work, money, honesty, time, and accountability, then hope food and money will fall from the sky like manna.
Spoiler alert: it won’t.
Before You Curse Politicians, Look Inward
If citizens want change from politicians, citizens must first change themselves.
Because one day, some of us will become assembly members, MPs, ministers, CEOs, board chairs, and presidents. And when that day comes, we won’t suddenly transform into angels.
We will only become more powerful versions of who we already are.
So the real question is not: “Why are our politicians like this?”
The real question is: “If I were elected today, would Ghana truly be better?”
Until we answer that honestly, we will keep recycling the same leaders, the same excuses, the same disappointments, just with new faces and new slogans.
Ghana does not need better politicians first. Ghana needs better citizens.
