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While the debate on the $ 200 million House of Parliament proposal continues to gain ground on both social media and traditional media, I have watched several videos of tempting, rather unsuccessful, members of Parliament. to justify the need for such a project.
The only video that made my heart ache and caused much of my outrage is that of the majority leader, Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, claiming that the divide between the two parties is so small that it could lead to "something" if the pbadions ignite.
I've watched the video a million times, trying very hard to understand why, no doubt, one of the brightest political minds in the country, would trail its awesome summary in the mud with this "capricious" attempt to justify the necessity of the project. .
He also stated publicly that this costly expansion would allow the president to sit before Parliament in front of Parliament and would also allow MPs to draw the eye of the speaker.
Now, why would one of Ghana's best debaters peddle these rather "juvenile" reasons on national television? Basically, why are our politicians and the rich and powerful acting as if they had lost touch with reality? Why do they think that they are above the law? Why are they driving their V8s with sirens and forget all the rules of the road? Why are they stealing state resources with so much impunity?
There is one theory: PSYCHOSIS OF POWER – defined as "a syndrome resulting from too much unverified power for too long".
As a syndrome, psychosis of power can affect anyone, no matter how moral or religious, if a country does not implement a system of responsibility that saves us from ourselves. This is the kind of disease that would make a man believe in an angel, for example.
Here's an explanation of Psychology Today:
"Decades of research have shown that many of us in power – the rich, the famous, the strong, the politically advantaged and those in high authority – tend to become increasingly more vulnerable to psychotic forms of power.
It works like this. The longer people stay in power, the more abstractly they process information, perceive others in instrumental and stereotyped terms, become more confident and inhibited, make riskier choices, and have a reduced capacity for complex social reasoning and moral judgment. .
They also become less likely to take someone else's point of view, are less precise judges of others' emotions and remember less accurate information about their subordinates. They even begin to see others as physically smaller.
Over time, the powerful can develop a feeling of super-optimism, a form of pride where they feel they can do or say anything they want, often pointing to ever more egregious violations, convinced they can not be arrested or punished. Of course, this happens within cultures, institutions and norms that allow it to function without control.
When the powerful find themselves in conflict with others, their illusions mingle with each other. People with high power tend to become very comfortable adopting a domineering style of conflict and often lose the ability to react otherwise.
They monopolize speaking time and speak aloud, are much more likely to express their personal opinions and true attitudes, and are much less affected by the attitudes expressed or the persuasion attempts of others. They also pay less attention to the parties in power, overestimate their power and underestimate the power of others, do not sufficiently understand the disputes they face and are more likely to break the rules and laws. "
The old people who rule this country is perhaps the most privileged generation in our history: they escaped all the inter-tribal and colonial wars, they escaped the two world wars and the Spanish flu, they escaped the the Great Depression and the struggle for independence.
They enjoyed all the advantages of a newly independent and wealthy country (with a higher per capita income than China). They had the best quality of education, multiple scholarships, did not have to struggle to find a job after graduation, had never lived "perching". Their generation is deemed to have demonstrated that she eats too much sardine.
Did they receive so much from the nation and what did they return? Poverty, misery, indiscipline, loss of patriotism, clbadism, unsustainable debt, direction without vision, corruption, lack of responsibility, transformation of our people into beggars, despair … They live in a bubble for so long that they have lost touch with the reality of life lived by the average Ghanaian.
In about 30 years, they would be either too incapable of governing or dead, because death is inevitable, even if our illusions make us believe that we will occupy our spaces forever (more progressive societies are aware of this and are determined to make better life for those who come after them). Then a new generation, our generation, would take the reins of power.
It would be much more difficult to overcome the challenges we would face as a nation: population growth doubling (excessive pressure on social services and worsening the economic divide, with the resulting problems), skyrocketing unemployment, mbad immigration, neighboring countries …
Now, do I have hope in the ability of our generation to ensure the economic development of our beloved country? Uh … not exactly, but I firmly believe that we would do better than the current ruling elite, who strives to build its monuments of shame.
To achieve this, we should have a serious introspection as a nation. Let's start by admitting that neither the NPP nor the NDC has the independent capacity to bring social and economic progress to our people. Let's escape the rather mistaken belief that a man or a woman sitting in Jubilee House could take 4 to 8 years to change a nation of 30 million people, even as he focuses on elections.
Let's start thinking in terms of a strategic national development agenda that resists political "turmoil" – that is, systems rather than individuals. And above all, let's build a system of responsibility, because without them, none of us can really escape the psychosis of power. And those of us who vehemently oppose such useless projects may be the ones who will initiate them one day. God bless our homeland.
Kwadwo Agyapong Antwi
The author writes blogs on social, political and economic issues at www.thinkingwityou.wordpress.com
Follow him on Twitter at kwadwo_aa
Warning: "The views / contents expressed in this article only imply that the responsibility of the authors) and do not necessarily reflect those of modern Ghana. Modern Ghana can not be held responsible for inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article. "
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