Mahama Water “Floods” University of Ghana Campus
It’s like a ritual, a norm or like a custom that is performed every four years. It’s normally a concurrent event to the presidential and parliamentary elections of Ghana. It is so predictable and one can easily and most accurately guess the ritual date for the next festive season. It is not unique or peculiar with only one side of the political square. The two main giants in the game always play that particular card. How influential it is is yet to be determined.
The sharing of sachet water to students of the premiere most prestigious university in Ghana – Legon. They always come branded with the image of the presidential and parliamentary candidates. And in rear cases only that of the parliamentary candidate.
I entered the most prestigious university in Ghana little over four years ago which was fortunately or unfortunately an election year. The first time I witness the performance of this ritual and benefited immensely from it. I was in Pentagon by then and hard the opportunity to stock our room with close to 20 bags of Mahama – Kwame Darko branded sachet water on one occasion and a few more Agyarko- Nana branded ones on a later date. Yes! You heard me right. Over 20 bags of sachet water just for my room alone and some more aggressive rooms had the chance to store more.
This wasn’t unique with only Pentagon Hostel where I was, almost all the hall benefitted from this “benevolent” act of political gimmick. The fact be told the hustle and the aggressiveness will even be far more intense in the traditional halls than Pentagon.
The year has come and the ritual has started playing out. The priests are out of their shrines with the usual goods to the students on the campus of the highest educational institution the country can boast of. They are out with sachets of branded water in KIA trucks.
Yesterday it was the turn of the NDC parliamentary candidate – Delali Kwasi Brempong. The chosen location was Sarbah hall but the beauty of the ritual this time was short lived.
A group of students presumably from the other side of the political device decided not to take the sachet water for their personal need for it but rather to destroy it. A good number of bags of water were destroyed by the students who are supposed to know better, whiles others struggled to stock their lockers with the Mahama – Brempong branded sachet water, others thought the best use of the water is to burst it all around the hall. Great number of the sachets of water were used for “water fight” by these group of students.
Whilst some condemned the act in the strongest possible voice, others also thought it is a sign of how dissatisfied the university students and in effect the youth are about the performance of the NDC government.
The two main contenders of the parliamentary slot of AYAWASO WEST WUOGON are Hon. Emmanuel Agyarko the current MP of the constituency on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party and Delali Kwasi Brempong on the ticket of the ruling National Democratic Congress.
Who rules Legon??? Whether the “Change Happening” will be allowed to continue in Legon or a new wind of change must be ushered in is left to you the voter to decide. In any case December 7th is just about 8 days away. Ghana First!!