Letter to the UHAS electorate - Stevenson Ohene-Gyan

Dear progress seeker,
As you may know, time has come for you to engage in the routine exercise of human selection. "Oh yeah, I like Mr X. He should be allowed to occupy the position he wills".  Of course, this may not be anything new to you, and you may well have made your decision before this letter reached you. Whether your prejudice supports voting for person X, person Y or not voting at all, I bid you to kindly grant me just a little if your breathing time.

As it has been the norm during elections, you may well want to edge your decision to vote on some predefined criteria. "Well, I like him, he's handsome. Oh, his policies are so nice. I think I like the way he speaks. He smiles and says hello to me anytime he meets me. Oh, she's my friends’ girlfriend."

Meanwhile, your ceaseless requirements of a candidate is causing someone to spend time in writing motivational messages they well may not understand, spend monies they may have starved to save, write down manifestos they may have copied from others, and put up a humble attitude you may have witnessed never before. These are always inevitable, and it can be understood from them, as you, like a hormone sauced teenage girl tolerates and even admires fables.

You may have observed that in national elections such as the election of the president of the state, trendy reasons for voting has been with this simple logic; "Well, let me try him and see, if he doesn't perform as promised I will vote him out the next time". Student politicians know this logic and thus try to capitalize on it by outlining before our eyes the very problems that we are well aware of while suggesting sucrose filled polices to curb them.

Well, before you try anyone with their policies, you may want to consider the fact that they shall have only one term and would
not be eligible for elections in the university again, thus your chance of retribution may never come to play should they fail to deliver.

One of the hardest things for anyone to face is the conclusion that his or her "own" side is in the wrong when engaged in a war, it is said. Oftentimes the pressure to keep silent and be a "team player" is reinforceable by the accusations of cowardice or treachery that will swiftly be made against dissenters. Sinister phrases of coercion, such as "stabbing in the back" or "giving ammunition to the enemy" have their origin in this dilemma and are always available to help compel unanimity.

My dear, elections in the university has often been distorted with this way of thinking and behaving. But I implore you to be wise as a serpent. Do not be compelled to vote for a candidate because they are from your school, because they are your friend's friends or girlfriends’ friend. Neither should you vote because you are in the same class with the person.

Once again, the logic with this way of voting stems out of our obsession with connections and favors, with the view that when one of our own is in power we shall gain some special advantages. Of course, nepotism is real.

Before you vote in an SRC election based on some unfounded close ties such as same high school, same school, same sex, same hostel and the rest, consider the past and as ask yourself; how has any of those things helped any individual attain progress?

So, whom should you vote for and how should you vote? You may ask. My dear, I may have disappointed you as I may not be able to suggest to you whom you should vote for. You might be pissed, but that's progress.

When Michelangelo finished and presented the sculpture of David to the Pope somewhere in the 1500s, He was amazed by the results, and so he asked, "How did you do it? How could you turn such a dumb log into such an amazing artifact?". "I removed everything that was not David." He replied.

As it stands, I do not know who the best candidate is. Give me years and I may never be able to tell you whom you should vote for or a criterion for you to base on and vote. But as Michelangelo, by letting you see the wood not as a wood But David, and by helping you to remove the pickles
that stand in the way of a wooden David, I hope you will be able to carve a beautiful artifact out of this year’s election.

Regards.

STEVENSON OHENE-GYAN A.
LEVEL 400, UHAS-SPH
(UHAS-SPH DEBATE CLUB)