I wrote this post a few months ago when i’d ALREADY started feeling election fatigue.
I think it’s still applicable, with a few additions. Enjoy reading.

About 10 minutes into  Mad Max: Fury Road , my friend leaned over to me in the cinema and whispered:

“One more term under Mahama and this is what Accra is going to look like”

When i tell you the struggle to maintain composure was so-damn-real in that theater .
Hahaha…I laugh enter IMF bailout office. -_-
For reference, it was the water scene below.

Later, i was laying in bed and the moment came back to me and i started laughing all over again.
My water had been off for the second consecutive day and counting.

And then i asked myself :
Can we take this analogy even further?

We sure can, and i sure did.

THE BULLET FARMER/ IMMORTAN JOE/ THE PEOPLE EATER

Our nations leader and government appointees.
No matter how they get there, whether by gun or thumbprint, invariably a time comes when they are complacent, bloated, grotesque and living large off the land while the people starve and scramble for scraps and handouts.
The poor masses worship them out of ignorance or necessity, forgetting that what is being given to them is already theirs.
It’s possible at one point these leaders were well intentioned, but that day is long gone. They typically will fight at any cost to retain power and unlimited access to a lifestyle they would otherwise not enjoy.

THE WAR BOYS

Your typical party foot solider. He is young, literally half dead from unemployment, hunger and struggle.
His undying loyalty has been won with a pittance of cash and the promise of paradise (voir a government job/contract) which is always just around the corner, and for which he is wildly unqualified anyway. These come in an online variety also ( who will probably show up in my comments soon lol).
The idea is to make as much noise as you can, hoping the hyper-visibility will get you noticed by the right person at the top.

THE WIVES

Our sugarbabies and mistresses, an alarmingly large demographic if you ask me.
In the film, they were held against their will. In real life, i’ve grown to conclude that perhaps they don’t have that much choice in the matter either. You’ve been at home for two years trying to find a job with your HND in Marketing to no avail.  One day a V8 Landcruiser slides up to you as you wait for your trosky. The owner offers to change your circumstances if you only hop in.
Ordinarily you wouldn’t touch him with a 10 foot pole, but man cannot live on indomie packs alone, and that 17 inch brazilian wig ain’t gonna buy itself. lol

And who am i in the story? Probably one of the impoverished masses just trying to get by. I’d certainly LIKE to be Imperator Furiosa, who went full gangsta and started a rebellion to subvert the whole system.

I know i spend too many days feeling like this: Tired, frustrated, saddened, angry…
kneeling in the barren sand, wondering how ill stand yet another day of the madness, and how we can ever hope to make this better.

So here we find ourselves, with elections a day or so away.
It would appear that everything I’ve written supports the assertion I’ve been hearing a lot lately: “There is no point voting because politicians are all the same”.
It is quite the opposite. I think it is more important that ever before that we get out there and exercise our right to vote.
Apathy is not some bold, admirable act of defiance. It is just that.. apathy.  Whether you vote or not will not change the fact that on Dec 9th, you will wake up and someone would have been chosen who has the power to impact your daily life enormously. I sure as hell would like to have some say in who that person is.
Sure there is a frustrating lack of options, but you can definitely get out a pen, paper and brainpower and figure out which of these options will cause the least damage.
Notice i did  not say “which of these options gave you rice, meat-pie or 50 ghc”!

We need to do away with “Football Party Politics”: where you choose a “team” and come rain, shine or hell-fire, you support to the bloody end. Hell, your support becomes more fervorous  the worse they perform because they “need you more than ever”.  This is ridiculous.  Infact, I have seen people way more critical of Van Gaal or Mou, or Pep’s performance for club than they’ve ever been of the Presidency’s performance for country. And if you are critical it is must be because you belong to an opposing party, not because you actually care what goes on where you live. We have GOT to do better than this.

I don’t belong to any party, because none of them deserve me lol.  The CPP my grandfather helped found is in shambles, and you people say voting for Nduom is a “waste”, even though really and truly, that is the President i would MOST like to see this time around. I’m not certain what i’m doing yet. I might even split my vote.
However, nothing will stop me from turning up bright and early to the polling booth to give my vote to someone and i hope you do not choose to voluntarily disenfranchise yourself. Don’t forget there are parliamentary candidates to select also.

What i know for sure is that this election will reveal who we are as a nation.
They say you get the President you deserve. Let’s hope we deserve a good one.
VOTE VOTE VOTE
….Good luck to us all.