China and Russia are Communist states; Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Niger and Pakistan are Islamic states; Cuba a Socialist state; United States of America and Europe are Christian, capitalist nations. What is Ghana?
Simple as the question is, it goes to the roots of our being. What are we as a nation? What is our isness? What is guiding us to our destination (wherever we are going)? Of what political or religious persuasion are we? Within what ideological framework are we developing?
These questions call for a national introspection and self-definition to qualify us to say that politically, and ideologically, we are this or that.
In our discussion, we shall look at the concept of ideology, and apply it to the Ghanaian situation. At the end of our discussion, it should be obvious that Ghana must individuate itself ideologically, as a prerequisite for the fullest and swiftest realization of nationhood and advancement in Ghana.
The necessity of ideology in a nation’s development is defensible on the grounds that every nation’s growth and progress springs from clearly defined body of principles and policies that serve both prescriptive and directive purposes and that also establishes the limits of acceptable national conduct. To be without an ideology is akin to a ship making a voyage without a compass.
Regrettably, ideology has taken on such a negative and pejorative meaning in the view of the West, because of its association with Marxism, communism or socialism, that it appears only renegade nations talk about ideology. The US political scientist, Giovanni Sartori, in his book:Parties and Political Systems conveys the disdain and prejudice of the West in his acidic description of ideology:
“… ideologies are the crucial lever at the disposal of elites for obtaining political mobilization and for maximizing the possibilities of man’s manipulation. We are concerned about ideology because we are concerned in the final analysis with the powers of man over man, with how populations and nations can be mobilized and manipulated all along the way that leads to political messianism and fanaticism”.
Sartori drew a blind over extremism in Western political and economic behavior, which is rooted in their capitalist ideologies. In the US, as an example, the ideology of economic capitalism and global hegemony of western democracy dictated the infamous, causeless, and destructive attack on Iraq by President Bush. His reasons? To preserve liberty (whose liberty?); to make the world a safer place (does the US make the world safer?); and to create a balance of power in the Middle East (to serve whose interests?). Did not Americans buy into President’s Bush rhetoric? Did not France and other Western nations support the US’s attack on Iraq for the same ideological reasons, and later attacked and butchered President Gaddafi? Libya has been dismembered by the Western nations, in the name of ideology.
A saner view of ideology is offered by the French philosopher,Antoine Destuitde Tracy, who sees ideology as a science of ideas (ideo-logy) that could be applied to a society to rid it of irrational prejudices. To him, ideology plays the analytical role of explaining the multiple structures and relationships in society. Ideology, in de Tracy’s opinion, functions to demystify society when, through the application of ideas, contradictions within a society are diagnosed, solutions prescribed, and when otherwise discordant and disparate elements are harmonized into a coherent whole. There ensues a movement towards a defined end.
Summarily we can say that political ideologies have two aspects:
- Goals: the ends of social movement or political direction.
- Methods: the most appropriate ways to achieve the envisaged.
Applying de Tracy’s view of ideology to the Ghanaian situation, we have the duty of adopting an ideology, or evolving one, that would define the multifarious relationships in society, determine our national vision, unite and direct our energies, establish standards of national conduct, and create cohesiveness and singularity of national purpose. Ghana’s political unfoldment has not, however, permitted the development and refinement of a body of ideas that could be called an ideology. Other than the Marxist-socialism of Kwame Nkrumah, which began to influence national development in the First Republic, subsequent governments could not be distinguished by any particular, discernible thought and practices describable as ideological.This is because a hotch-potch of ideas, and effusions of democracy (Busia), introverted nationalism (Acheampong), socialist sentiments and nationalist fervour (Rawlings), and economic capitalism (Kufour ) do not constitute ideology.
Governments posterior to Nkrumah, having earlier rejected him with his socialism, took a centrist position skewed to the western economic capitalism, which saw the rise of private corporate entities in Ghana. The several state corporations/enterprises established under a socialist economy were abandoned, sold, dissolved. The result of this dislocation in the industrialization of Ghana has been the present high level of unemployment in the country, along with over-dependence on foreign loans and credits.
What this means is that Ghana has been moving on as a nation without a distinctive thought shaping its future, uniting its people, regulating relationships in the country, determining economic development, and political governance of the country. Mind you: when we say Ghana is a secular state, practicing parliamentary democracy, it does not mean we have an ideology!
In terms of religious persuasion, is Ghana a traditional, Islamic or Christian country? Of course, we say we are secular, and a mixture of all. Ghana cannot remain indefinitely secular, because it means anything goes for us! Obey the wind! Religious syncretism aims at satisfying everyone, but when Ghana is neither this, nor that, the nation will never galvanize its energies, and focus them for best development.
It is deducible from the tenor of our discussion that I am inclined towards the formulation or adoption and adaptation of an ideology that would shape the course of events in Ghana, and give us a definite personality. Whatever ideology we adopt or evolve must, among other things, satisfy the following conditions:
- it must fulfill Ghana’s goal of freedom and justice, and define the relationships amongst the arms of Government, and between the Government and the people;
- it must economically promote and reward individual initiative and industry, while at the same time serve the corporate needs of the nation;
- it must uphold the sanctity of the family, and foster ethnic and social integration;
- it must seek the highest moral elevation of Ghanaians through a monotheistic religion;
- it must preserve the cultural legacy of the nation, while protecting it from cultural decadence;
- it must determine the technological and scientific path to Ghana’s ultimate industrialization;
- it must be holistic to affect the creative nurturing and flowering of Ghanaian genius.
The above points require elaboration, but I shall not do so now. My concern here is to think aloud and agitate the minds of other thinkers about the future of our country. The nation has to settle for an ideology soon, because like a ship without a compass, our journey on this oceanic life could lead us further from our destination, further, further into unknown waters, into unknown dangers.
By Ahumah Ocansey
Email: akwesihu@yahoo.com
