Recently, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) experienced an influx of aspiring candidates in its attempt to fill in the Ejisu Constituency seat in the Ashanti Region that has been left vacant after the death of the late Hon. John Kumah, the Member of Parliament for the Constituency.
Though this is not a new occurrence in the NPP as its primaries, both Parliamentary and Presidential, have always witnessed a flood of aspiring politicians, the incident makes one wonder why many people desire to go into politics.
The idealistic belief is that many people enter into politics because they want to make a change, create an impact, or leave behind a memorable legacy, like Kwame Nkrumah, support the deprived people by providing a better education, and good health facilities, and creating jobs.
As such, some politicians in Ghana, especially Members of Parliament, endeavor to put the interests of their people as their top priority in the conduct of politics.
In some constituencies in Ghana, Members of Parliament enjoy a considerable amount of favor from their constituents that others do not due to their commitment to the welfare of their constituents.
Some MPs go as far as using their personal resources to fund constituency projects or look for assistance outside of the government when the government fails to provide enough resources to fund essential projects.
Accordingly, the decision of the nine aspirants to contest the Ejisu seat may genuinely stem from their desire to effect change in the lives of the constituents. As such, many of the aspirants cited their wish to develop Ejisu as their main inspiration to contest for the seat.
However, others believe that Ghanaians largely enter into politics because of the financial benefit politicians derive from politics, given the current economic situation and increasing number of unemployed youth.
It is, therefore, a common spectacle that a young Ghanaian from a humble background or a relatively wealthy person suddenly acquires more wealth within a short period after entering politics.
This is not to dispute the fact that there may be honest politicians who do not engage in politics for the financial gains they may derive from it, however, for many Ghanaian youth and even older generations, the financial benefit is a deciding factor and this could also be a factor for why the NPP had an influx of aspirants to context the Ejisu Parliamentary primary election.
“They [the NPP aspirants] are fighting for the position to the extent that nine people have filed, it is unquestionable. They are only there by the fact that they have money to share. They’ve gotten some state money they have to share so they are doing that”.
Mustapha Gbande
The Prestige And Power Factor
Furthermore, Ghanaians go into politics due to the prestige that comes with being a politician. In Ghana, politicians are considered and treated as royalties even by people who claim to despise them or their perceived corrupt activities.
The respect accorded politicians even when they are underperforming is enough to lure someone to engage in politics.
Moreover, the idea of power and the access that it creates inspire Ghanaians to go into politics. Being an active politician grants people and those around them access to many things.
Generally, politicians in Ghana, those in the Executive and Legislative arms of government particularly, have the power granted to them by their offices to influence things in ways that benefit them.
Access to some opportunities for themselves and people around them – family, friends, and acquaintances – which would be hard for ordinary Ghanaians to obtain comes easy to them.
The recent scholarship scandal at the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat which saw scholarships being granted to politicians and people associated with them, despite they not meriting it while needy Ghanaians do not have access to these scholarships, is an instance of the power politicians possess and the access this power grants them.
As such, there is no doubt that winning the Ejisu Parliamentary seat will grant whoever wins it power and access. It is therefore understandable that as many as nine people will be interested in contesting the seat.
Conclusively, whatever the main inspiration to go into politics could be for anyone, it must be noted that the main objective of politics and governance is the socio-political and economic welfare of the people who give politicians the mandate of power.
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