Too good to be true!
Following UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s call for early elections in May 2024, elections were held in the UK on July 4, 2024.
The outcome was as dramatic as it was on June 23, 2016, when, following the resignation of David Cameron, new Conservative leader Theresa May led the UK out of the EU in what became known as BREXIT after winning a referendum.
The unexpected victory of the Conservative Tories over Labour in June 2016 was described by the British Press as a “stratospheric somersault,” and a “seismic shocker.” This time around, Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives were comprehensively beaten when they got only 121 seats as against Labour’s 421, with the other parties sharing what was left of the 650 seats of the House of Commons.
The following day on July 5, 2024, the Opposition Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Listening to events unfold in the UK elections, my mind rather inexplicably, took a deep dive into history, recalling an incident in the UK almost 50 years ago.
In 1985, I trained at the Royal Armour Corps Centre, Bovington, Dorset, UK, where an incident happened on a Saturday morning. I titled the article I wrote on the incident “Too good to be true!”
Bovington
The regulation at the Bovington Officers Mess where the 30 of us officers on course lived was that anyone who wanted to be fed over the weekend must book a day earlier on Friday.
The 28 British officers never spent weekends there. My only foreign colleague was from a Gulf state. Like the English officers, he never spent the weekend in Bovington.
Indeed, car-rental companies competed, calling him from Wednesday to take him to London on Friday evening. Undoubtedly, his tips were hefty. I was, therefore, the only one who patronised the Mess every weekend, the result of my poor finances.
Below is the continuation of the story:
John was 63, a Second World War Veteran, humorous and very friendly. Tracy was in her early 50s. Both served in the Mess where I lived and appeared to be good friends, always chatting, with the chat occasionally being upgraded into an argument as the tone suggested.
On this occasion, I am not sure what the debate was about, but as soon as I entered the Mess, John took off like a jet towards the kitchen and with extreme excitement shouted;
“Tracyyy, he is in! Didn’t I tell you? It was too good to be true!”
As I walked with a heavy head towards the nearest chair, I asked myself what was too good to be true about my coming for breakfast on a Saturday morning as I always did. Then I remembered that the previous day, Friday, somehow, I forgot to book I would be around as I always did, and, therefore, needed to be fed.
Obviously, the non-appearance of that constant name in the book must have triggered a debate between John and Tracy. Was it possible that this officer who had patronised all weekend meals without fail was for once not showing up this weekend?
It was easy for me to guess not only the topic for the debate but also who proposed and who countered the motion. The topic could have been: It is not possible for this officer from the west coast of Africa not to appear for all weekend meals.
When I suddenly appeared for breakfast that Saturday morning, without any booking, therefore, John could not help but shout his triumph over Tracy, who, in a motherly manner, may have held brief for me, suggesting that I may have gone out!
Discussion
Unfortunately for me, that was not the only time I suffered such embarrassment on a course overseas. Some years later, this scenario was repeated in the USA while on another course.
However, the “pecuniary embarrassment” (in the words of a lecturer of mine at Legon) that I suffered was “homemade and self-inflicted!” This was in the revolutionary era of 1979/1981 and aftermath where, as “vanguards” of the revolution, military personnel on courses overseas had their allowances slashed down to $10 per day!
It was particularly difficult in the USA, where I had to feed myself; unlike the UK where we were centrally fed. In contrast to my $10/day, my Nigerian brothers at the Armour School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA, with me, took around $200/day.
Lessons
The UK has just had elections without the world hearing of them as it happens in Ghana. Soldiers were not deployed following politicians everywhere with weapons. The voting day was July 4, 2024. Soon after that, incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat. On July 5, the new PM Keir Starmer was sworn in. Simple and decent!
Why do we make Rocket Science of our elections in Ghana, making insults, disrespect and violence part of elections? In the words of Prof. Kwesi Aning to MPs during our 64th Republic Anniversary Public Lecture at KAIPTC, Teshie, on July 1, 2024, “We must up our game”, as human beings, so Ghana will be respected in the comity of nations.
Finally, as TS Elliot wrote: “Of all the virtues, humility is the most difficult to attain because nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of oneself.”
As December 7, 2024, approaches, remember humility’s reward for a leader is exponential. Let us not disprove the African of the last Millennium Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkumah’s dictum that the black man is capable of managing his own affairs!
That the Ghanaian is capable of managing his own affairs must not be “too good to be true”, if honest leadership, respect, selflessness and integrity replace greed, disrespect and selfishness.
Ghana must rise again! Leadership, lead by example! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!