*YOUR VOTE IS YOUR VOICE* Vote for whichever party you like but don’t abstain!
You think you are comfortable so you don’t care.
You think you have a job so you are unconcerned.
You think you don’t need health care so you are unperturbed.
You think your parents can afford tertiary education so you don’t complain.
You think you didn’t take SSNIT students loan so you are safe.
You think you can afford 3 square meals a day so you live in heaven.
You think you have a power plant in your house so You don’t give a damn!
You think you have job security so you don’t care about those who got laid off.
You think your job is lucrative so you don’t care about cries of trade unions.
You think your parents give you enough pocket money so you careless about nursing and teacher trainees.
You think you can change your wardrobe every month so you don’t care how the economy is managed.
You think you have burglar-proof windows and doors so you don’t care about ‘under-bridge sleepers’.
You think you are not an economist so you don’t care about the consequences of corruption.
You think you have completed SHS so ‘Free SHS’ is meaningless.
You think the future of your kids are secured so You don’t care about ours.
You think you don’t use a Ford Explorer so you don’t care about fuel prices.
You think you live in an expensive vicinity (Residential Area) so You don’t care about good government policies.
You think you don’t benefit directly from the government in power so you would sell your conscience and vote for a party that gave you GHC 20.
Well, I put it to you that You don’t care about the masses! You have never cared and will never care!
You think about only your own interest.
You don’t care about how your country is governed.
Your actions and inactions are no different from the woman who doesn’t experience menstrual pains and so doesn’t care about the price of Genicure 4-4-2.
If you fail to vote, then you are selfish and self-centered!
If you fail to vote, you have indirectly voted for the winner because your vote could have made a difference.
You live in Ghana and you pretend you don’t know the opportunity cost of corruption.
You can be there and comfort yourself with descriptive words like ‘apolitical’ and ‘non-partisan’.
Do you remember “First they came … “, a famous statement and provocative poem written by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)?
And I quote, “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
To those who have decided to vote, what factors will inform your decision? Corruption? Education? Unemployment? Energy? Illegal mining? Utility bills? Port tariffs or just propaganda?
I rest my keypad.
Kwame Ernest Adu
