I’ve always been slightly fascinated by politics. I remember when I was in High School we had a career day. Professionals from various disciplines, doctors, lawyers, chefs, business people, came to school and gave short presentations on what their jobs were like, how they got involved, and all of that fun stuff. I heard a few different people speak, but the one that stands out was the politician. I was interested in the first place because the only real sense of a politician was what I had gathered from textbooks, television, movies and that sort of thing, but I had no practical idea of what a politician was all about. I only had this very abstract notion of the profession, if you want to call it that, whereas I could tell you exactly what being a doctor entailed, if you asked me what a politician did I probably would have fumbled with any answer at all. Alright, so I went and heard this politician speak and I expected to walk away with a clear job description, something that I could go home with and say, “hey Mom guess what I learned at school today.” Well, that’s not what happened. After the presentation I think I was more confused about the idea of this politician and what she did than ever before. Thinking back it all makes perfect sense to me now. There is nothing concrete about a politician or politics in general. That’s the point I think. As soon as you try and lay a finger on it you’re lost completely. Politicians are shifty folks in fact I’m fairly sure that they don’t actually do anything at all. They talk a lot about doing things, but you will never find one with a hammer and nails. It is really fascinating stuff. Maybe I just figured it all out though. That woman was able to talk to all of us with the explicit purpose of explaining what it means to be a politician what her function is in society and when we walked out of that room she had succeeded revealing almost nothing. It is all becoming clear to me now the job description was there not in what she said, but in her ability to functionally say nothing. She was damn good.
Here I am now quickly approaching the end of my college days, undergrad at least, and what have I chosen to study… environmental policy. It’s not politics proper, but its politics through and through. Like I said its fascinating stuff because when it comes down to it politics is just individuals making decisions. Obviously there are a lot of bells and whistles and smoke and mirrors that are involved, but when you boil it all down strip off the layers of bullshit you find an individual making a decision. What I’m trying to get at, and I can see I’ve deviated a bit, is the political life on campus here at the University of Ghana. The student government serves as a microcosm for the political culture within the culture. Before coming to Ghana I was never interested with student government and school politics. I’m realizing now that I have not idea what goes on at UC Davis as far as politics are concerned. I don’t know how the system works or even if it works at all. I have known a couple of people who have been in office or run for office, but that is about the extent of it. The student government is there, but it’s not in your face like it is here. As I am writing there are students downstairs casting their votes for Legon Hall JCR government officials. Before I get into it I should probably give a quick breakdown of the University of Ghana student government as far as I understand it.
There are four residency halls associated with the University: Legon Hall, Akuafo Hall, Mensah Sarbah Hall, and Commonwealth Hall. Each hall is an autonomous entity, with its own government, its own reputation, culture, and style. Its crazy, students seriously identify with the hall that they stay in. There are all kinds of ridiculous rivalries and what not between them and I’ve experienced a bit of it since being here. Anyways, the elections going on right now are for the hall level governing bodies. There is a student body government as well, Student Representative Council, but those elections aren’t taking place until next semester when I’ll be long gone. From what I gather the hall level elections are just as important if not more important than those for SRC. Hall governments are similar to local government and it seems like student officials have more power at the ‘local’ level. When I say more power what I really mean is more direct access to money. I mean that’s what it all comes down to anyway, right? Student dues are separated into two accounts, which I still don’t fully understand, where one of the accounts is controlled by the University administration, and the other is left in the hands of the hall officials. The hall account is based on housing dues paid by the students and the money is supposed to be used to improve the condition of the dormitories and that sort of thing. Now this is the key part so pay attention, the elected student treasurer is in charge of and has direct access to that bank account. There is a limit on what can be extracted, but it is something absurd like 10,000 Ghana Cedis, which is like 7,000 U.S dollars. Students, kids are given the opportunity/responsibility to control a substantial chunk of money with almost no oversight from the University. I’m having a hard time grasping this concept and that’s why I wish I knew more about the student government at home. Even at the University level there is obvious corruption students are embezzling funds. Why am I rambling about all of this? Probably because I feel like no body else is. Maybe there are a few people who care, but there is no accountability. There is no body to hold the corrupt responsible for their corruption and until that happens it will just continue. At home or here it doesn’t matter the same shit is happening…its just more raw here, more flagrant because it doesn’t have to be wrapped under as many layers of lies and bullshit.
I’m reading Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson. Maybe that’s why I’m rambling.
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