Give unto caesar what is Caesar's

By Doreen Allotey

Many people were getting ready to celebrate Christmas in grand style. They wanted to add victory at the polls to Christmas (call it two-in-one) and celebrate big time. This was not to be.
By the command of Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the Electoral Commissioner, we have to go to the polls again on December 28, 2008. And that will be after Christmas. The inability of any of the presidential candidates to get more than 50 per cent of the votes cast is what has caused all this.
What was good about it, any way, was the silence that ensued. Even though some party supporters had, on the day before the announcement of the results, went into hasty and premature celebration, claiming victory for their parties, Dr Afari-Gyan’s announcement went like: “Let there be silence”, and there was silence.
Bars that had been stocked to the brim in readiness for the victory celebrations became quiet and drivers who were getting ready to blow their horns as they drove through the streets found something else to do, not necessarily better, though.
God did not give us the one-touch result that we had hoped for. He is the only one who knows why. But I guess it was to give us the chance to think again and settle on what we really want as a people. At a cost to us, anyway. We have to spend more money on the run-off. But this is something we are prepared for. From the day we decided to toe the line of democracy, we indirectly signed a silent pact to go along with all that multi-party democracy entails.
The December 7 stalemate is quite significant. It showed that the Ghanaian voter had become sophisticated, complex and therefore not so predictable. It also confirmed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) remain the two dominant political parties in the country. The rest still have a lot of work to do to make an impact. Their presence, however, spiced the menu and gave the electorate more choices and that was all. Another lesson is that incumbency is not a panacea for success at elections and that political parties will have to do more serious work to win elections. It also tells our leaders that they must constantly and continuously identify with us and listen to us ! Our next Parliament promises to be interesting. Parliamentary proceedings will be different, with a few new faces here and there and may be fewer walk outs!
The run-off has come as good news for some businesses, especially advertising agencies and their partners in the media. They are bound to make more money from the politicians who will definitely repackage their campaign messages for the final combat.
But run-off or no run-off, Christmas, the Mass of Christ, is approaching. We will celebrate the birth of Christ before we face the second round of voting. As it stands now, some who voted in the first round may not vote again. They may have lost that mood for travelling to do so or the excitement and motivation that kept them standing in long queues for the purpose of voting on December 7.
Those long queues certainly call for an increase in the number of polling stations, but, of course, that will come at a cost. Some who did not vote in the first round may have regretted staying away and would now want to, while those who spoilt their ballot papers and, therefore, made their candidates poorer and the opponent richer may have learnt their lessons and are ready to do the proper thing this time.
These, and the expected participation of the die-hard and fanatical supporters of the candidates, will make the difference.
For now, the celebration of Christmas occupies my mind. It sends my mind way back to how it used to be and how it is now.
In my part of the world, over 30 years ago preparations for Christmas meant, among others, that children would have the privilege of lining up to have their hair dyed. The dye was called yoomo, a Ga word which means old woman. It was quite messy and after application it dribbled down the forehead. That, however, depended on the expertise of the one doing the application. Somehow, some parents thought that the use of yoomo gave children a neat look!
Surprisingly, I still see some old people around whose hair has virtually refused to take on the yoomo, leaving the hair some kind of reddish-brown shade — not black and not grey! You may say the hair has become immune to the dye. And this is in spite of the fact that it now looks noble to keep the grey hair and even enhance it with grey dye, not black!
In those times, children got so excited about Christmas because they would have rice and chicken to eat. And they got the opportunity of drinking Portello, Vino and Lemonade (Lamley). Those names are now history and only Fanta and Coca-Cola are still on the shelves. We would sometimes add some water to our drinks to increase the quantity and eat Gem biscuits. Children made chains from those gem biscuits by stringing them together and wearing them around their necks. Luckier children got new dresses and shoes or sandals which they invariably wore until the next year. They also got the opportunity to go round from house to house to eat and drink in the spirit of unity and good neighbourliness.
I don’t see many of those things anymore. With the city riddled with fast food joints selling fried rice and chicken and at very affordable prices too, chicken which we occasionally ate, has become an everyday food. In fact, it will cost you more to buy fufu and smoked fish (Akosombo fish) soup than it will to buy you chicken and fried rice, irrespective of the fact that the chicken may have been sleeping in the cold stores (mortuary) for close to 10 years! As for rice, we eat it almost every day now so it’s no big deal.
With stories of children being kidnapped for ransom, how many parents will allow their children to go round the homes of neighbours in that spirit of unity?
Whatever it is, I am still excited about Christmas. Let’s release some tension. Let us give what is Christ’s to Him and show the same enthusiasm in choosing between Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Professor John Evans Atta Mills on December 28.