Ghana's Campaign Manifesto War, Its Implication On African Politics!

The campaign for December 7, 2016, Ghana's elections is swaddled with interesting developments that reveals a shift from Africa's prevalent political  milieu. Pivotal is a recent accusation brought against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) one of Ghana's Political parties, of "stealing ideas from political opponents.

 Vs 

At John Mahama's highlight presentation of NDC's 2016 manifesto recently, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came hard on the NDC's flag bearer and current president accusing him and his party of "stealing ideas from other political parties only to be found wanting when its time" for implementation. The said manifesto includes: creation of five regions establishment of some development authorities; election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. 

'Manifesto war' became a topic of particular interest as Ghana's political analysts, all through penultimate week debated the basis upon which ideas should be contested.  According to a school of thought, originality of implementation of ideas should be of concern, not who originated the ideas. They asserted that there are no original ideas in the first place as most ideas have been floating over the years. Ideas such as housing, job creation, good transportation network, quality education at minimal cost, constant electricity supply, better remuneration for workers, building facilities and its maintenance are some of the basic needs of developing countries from where manifestos emerge. Political parties go the length of crafting manifestos without consulting experts in respective fields to deduce their practicality, thereby presenting un-quantifiable ideas to the public. 

Such developments pose an unfolding trend of electing individuals and political parties based on their abilities to initiate strategies for implementing practical ideas, capable of effecting desired change(s) in the lives of people; far from the normal charisma/ eloquence, physical attributes et'al considerations. From the look of things, African may not only be interested in political freedom, but also in economic freedom.