‘Arrogance of power’, nemesis of breaking the 8

“Thou shall overcome arrogance of power.”

This is the golden commandment for the party wanting to break the eight.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This statement is true in Ghana now just as it was true 137 years ago in England when John Acton warned of the temptations that come with political power.

The quest to retain political power after eight years by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) has hit a snag twice for both parties within this Fourth Republic.

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The cycle retards with the NDC taking power in January 2025.

The irony is that the same political power the parties are determined to retain is also responsible for their failure to keep it.

Arrogance of power
The concept ‘arrogance of power’ has been used in different contexts and I refer to it here as the propensity of political office holders to be influenced by their new status to the extent of losing touch with reality (either intentionally or unintentionally).

This is often progressive such that they wander farther away the longer they stay in power.

Arrogance of power is not about character. Rather, there is an inherent element of political power that can make holders take on attitudes that eventually lead them out of reality.

This happens consciously when power holders decide to readjust their lifestyle and attitude by exalting themselves to suit their new position, or unconsciously, when they make choices that indirectly push them gradually out of reality.

By reality I mean the daily happenings around us and our intersubjective perceptions about them.

For instance, illegal mining is a danger to our health and environment.

Ordinarily I do not expect anyone to dispute this statement. But there are people who will despite knowing of its consequences.

They are in denial for various reasons but often they are beneficiaries of the mess.

Loss of touch with reality arising out of arrogance of power is the single most important hindrance to breaking the eight-year power cycle and any party that can overcome the ‘arrogance’ temptation is the one to break the eight first.

Symptoms
The signs of arrogance of power manifest differently depending on the structure of the government and the type of preponderant leadership traits.

First, a holder of ‘arrogant power’ ceases (intentionally or unintentionally) to distinguish between genuine concerns of citizens and mischief of political opponents.

In the run-up to elections 2024, even when it was obvious that Ghanaians were concerned about the health risks of illegal mining in the country, officials of the ruling party insisted that those calling for the fight against illegal mining wanted the party to lose power.

Well, the government did not fight it, but the party lost anyway. The NPP mistakenly interpreted public concerns about Galamsey to be opposition mischief.

When you are suffering from arrogance of power, you interpret your sympathisers’ voice as your opponents’ voice – frustrating your voters into voting for your opponents or not voting at all.

Secondly, holders of arrogant power struggle to tolerate divergent views.

They simply cannot reason out with people who share different opinions.

And because there are asymmetrical power relations between those with power and those without power, the power wielders tend to use their ‘powerfulness’ to gag the powerless – who are often voters.

Met with consistent resistance, people make up their minds and quietly wait for election day.

Third, holders of arrogant power often believe they are smarter than anyone else not as powerful.

To them, all wisdom on earth, in the netherworld, in the seas and in the skies have been given to them and them alone – no one else.

It is up to them to dispense wisdom however they choose to dispense it and to whomever they deem fit.

This is what pushes politicians to want to ‘trick’ voters with unrealistic promises or even share material resources in exchange for votes.

Someone must actually consider you stupid to want to buy your conscience.

What to do
To break the eight, a party must see voters as emotionally balanced, intelligent and reasonable humans capable of reading between the lines.

The government strives to do its best then come clean in genuineness to the public to render accounts.

Being reasonable and seeing the works of the government, voters can then appreciate the effort with additional years – thereby breaking the eight.

Rather, our parties have preferred crafty and manipulative means to win power.

But it will get to a time when parties that stick to this good old manipulative strategy will struggle to win second-term re-elections – and this time will come sooner than expected.

The writer is the
Head of Politics Department,
Lancaster University Ghana
E-mail: francisak2@gmail.com