populaces rather than eagerly pondering on
what policies then manifestos of aspirants will
contain are more concerned about the theme
song for this year’s electoral performance.
What song will be opening and closing the
2020 Election Play? “Onaapo” obviously won
the best campaign song in 2016 as did “Nana Y3
Winner” by Daddy Lumba in 2012. As in both
cases, the best song didn’t reflect the party’s
positions after the elections. In both cases, the
parties lost the election – what a sad reality.
A
nother aspect of the play which
gets the crowd cheering is the
promises. “When I come, I will do
this…”, countless a time the voting
populace is promised several
things, from tax reductions, free education,
jobs, free healthcare, reduced fuel prices to
even spouses to an extent. The actors on the
stage pose as the gods of the day. The people’s
savior sent by God to redeem them from the
chuckles of their “oppressors”; what didn’t Nana
Addo and the NPP say about Mahama and
the NDC and vice versa? Riding on the plights
30| Colossium . March 2020
of the people, these actors coin out attractive
slogans and mantras to lure the masses into
their illusions of “Heavens on earth”. “Vote for
Nana for Free SHS”, “JM – Onaapo” are a few
of the slogans and mantras presented to the
people in place of policies. Obviously in every
theatre what you say doesn’t matter, it is how
you perform and our politicians understand this
so they feed the audience with their addiction.
How feasible “Free SHS” is or will be doesn’t
matter – all that matters is, it’s a catchy phrase
“Free SHS”. What policies Mahama is coming
with just doesn’t matter, all the audience need to
know is that he’s irresistible – hence “Onaapo”.
We’re in 2020 now and the question is, are we
going past these or we still remain as we’ve
always been? It’s been smoke screens since we
entered our 4th republic, what will be next in the
coming months? It will be interesting to see a new
theatre with new rules in the coming elections.
The play as always will continue but will the
audience enjoy the same performances as that
of previous years? We will have to wait and see.
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