If there is no difference between parties they would have the same nomenclatures and the same manifestos. But that is not the reality.They present different manifestos to their electorates which overlap in certain areas. This puts paid to the statement of consolation “den all nar di same’’ (they are all the same) by voters whose parties are defeated at the polls. Let it be known that party divisions whether on the whole operating for good or evil are things inseparable from free government.For good governance party politics is incomparable with the best of bureaucracies.
The two political parties that have bedeviled rather than ruled this nation since independence are the SLPP and the APC with other parties springing up and fading out yet playing a role as king makers.They have left this nation dubbed rightly but theoretically as a land of Iron and diamonds ruined. Dissapointingly they have left this nation in lower socio-economic circumstances than the colonialists.
In spite of differences between ruling parties there are similarities albeit there are differences in their methods of implementation.In fact it is the factor that influences the voter and not what is being done. In ‘Korokor’ (witchcraft) politics for instance they seem to be at one.’Korkor’in local parlance is a bird that is deeply engaged in witchcraft and human blood sucking.It flies at night feeding on human flesh and blood as alleged. Superstitious and satanic members and supporters of both parties have wished death and other ill-fortunes of each other’s leader and have even taken steps to achieve their purposes.
The two parties are guilty of tribalism and regionalism in various degrees with the last regime of the APC tipping the scales. It is a consequent practice for parties even in developed countries to get their own members to occupy the best positions available with the rest going to the opposition.
The APC has been tagged light-heartedly to have 99 tactics but in this regard it would appear that the SLPP that had been virtually shadowing the APC is about to outdo the APC having started its own 99 tactics.Thier first tactic since 2018 was to contrive the election of a Speaker of the House of Representatives while the APC had a majority in the house.The second was to unseat a number of APC members of Parliament thereby upturning the balance and securing a majority.Others like bulldozing their way to set up the Commissions of Enquiry were studiously copied from the original 99 tacticians.
The big difference between the SLPP and the APC is that while the SLPP is elitist with ingratitude to most of its grassroots supporters the APC cares for the downtrodden which kept them in power even with their alleged corruption (a common factor). The APC does not care to know how ultra-qualified you are.They would find a place for you as long as they have evidence that you supported or even pretended to support them.
Unless you are close to the corridors of power you are discarded as an SLPP member or supporter having voted for them.Executive members of various branches are not considered if they are not known or related to Ministers or some other persons high up in the party hierarchy unlike the APC.What is not easily realized is that those ignored form the bulk of the voters in this game of numbers.
The SLPP has been recently making inroads into erstwhile APC strongholds attracting new members who do not know about the ingratitude of the SLPP and its contempt of the lower echelons.Those gains are going to be offset by voters in its strongholds who have been disgusted by the party’s elitist policies.They have been left in the lurch to fend for themselves and will do so as long as we are not in a one-party state.