Democratic Socialism

Any keen observer of the political happenings around the world, would have seen in recent times the emergence of a political philosophy that seems to resonate with a lot of people who belong to the working class and the middle income group. 

In recent times, a name on the lips of people is Zohran Mamdani, who is the new Mayor of New York, and he is creating a buzz not only in New York but across America, for the transformational, servant leadership style of governance, which are impacting lives of the average man on the street. 

Right across our border to the north of this country, is another man whose exploits in terms of governance, have restored hope to the people of Burkina Faso and his name is lbrahim Traore. 

This was a country that until recently, had been devastated by years of corrupt leadership under Campaore and the immediate past leader, coupled with Jihadist attacks, which had resulted in social misery, economic decline and lack of good governance. 

This is the Democratic Socialism ideology on display, where no one is left behind.

A review of our governance system had shown that what we have practised over the years have not delivered the promises it offered and therefore one can safely say that, it has failed us. 

Currently most Ghanaians have lost hope in the democracy we are practising.  All we see is a group of leaders who only crave for power to better the lot of themselves and their families.   

This is the perception out there and so citizens are not motivated to be patriotic and this is one of the major causes of entrenched corruption in the public and civil service. 

Within a short period, since he took over as head of the country, although he came into power through  a coup, which l do not support, he has begun to transform Burkina Faso where patriotism is on the rise to the extent that ordinary citizens, are now protecting their villages against Jihadist attacks. 

They have teamed up with the government to implement security measures aimed at protecting the citizens and it is because the citizens have observed a new leadership style that is transparent, selfless, patriotic and very committed to the welfare of the citizens. 

This is the kind of governance system our country needs and it has a name; Democratic Socialism.  Socialism as a political ideology on its own is not helpful as history has shown because it eventually breeds dictatorship and also stagnates economic growth. 

Democratic Socialism is a blend of democratic values and social welfare, which ensures that the vulnerable in society are taken care of.

There is a popular quote which is attributed to Albert Einstein that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” 

The Democracy we have practised over the years has not delivered the expected results so it is about time we started reviewing it.  This is the only way to see progress. 

Burkina Faso is almost a desert yet we depend on them for a large portion of our tomato needs as a nation which has all the forests and vegetation Burkina dreams of.

Recently they said they were not going to allow exports of raw tomato because they have to keep enough to feed their factories and our government had to go and beg them to allow our traders to import tomato from them.  This is shameful. 

When a leader of a state, demonstrates patriotism, it trickles down to the citizenry and creates a culture of patriotism and that is the way to drastically reduce corruption, if not completely eliminate it, because corruption deprives the nation of adequate resources for development. God Bless.