President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Fellow Ghanaians, I have been wondering why our President keeps lying to us the electorate. After a little research, I now understand.
Lying To Appear Honest For Monetary Gains
People’s default is telling the truth (Grice, 1991). Telling a lie is generally viewed as morally wrong and is psychologically taxing (Gneezy, 2005). Why do people lie? Surely there are many reasons. One prominent motivation is gaining material benefits (Becker, 1968).
Many people overcome their basic aversion to lying and mislead others to secure some monetary gains. Abundant findings from experimental studies provide converging evidence demonstrating that many people lie to gain more money. (Choshen-Hillel, S., Shaw, A., & Caruso, E. M. (2020, January 30).
Do the following ring a bell?
- I will not run a family & friends government.
- I will protect the public purse.
- I will not collapse illegal mining (galamsey).
- If you want to make money, go to the private sector, not in my government.
Remember the former president of the Ghana Football Association, Kwasi Nyantakyi was alleged to have said that President Akufo-Addo needed money after selling all his properties in his bid to become President.
Lying To Protect An Image And Avoid Embarrassment
Indeed, people care about the image that they present to others. People want to appear good— generous, fair, and moral. For example, people tend to choose options that favour them over others but would lie and say that they used an impartial device to make this choice, to avoid appearing unfair (Choshen-Hillel, S., Shaw, A., & Caruso, E. M. (2020, January 30).
Remember, the removal of Mrs Charlotte Osei as the Electoral Commissioner was an agenda previously set but done through lies to ‘legally’ remove her from office so that it did not seem it was a personal vendetta.
Do the following ring a bell?
- Campaign rhetoric in 2016 – I promise to deal ruthlessly with corruption. Candidate Akufo-Addo was touted as a no nonsense corruption fighter.
- Reality in 2019 - “It is not my job to clear or convict any person accused of wrongdoing, or of engaging in acts of corruption. My job is to act on allegations of corruption by referring the issue or issues to the proper investigative agencies for the relevant enquiry and necessary action. If an appointee is cleared of any wrongdoing, the evidence adduced and recommendations made by these agencies, after the investigations are concluded, are what clear the accused persons, not myself. None of these agencies has ever indicated any pressure from the Executive over the investigations.” Lying To Conceal Benefit or Bad Behaviour
People lie to conceal benefit or bad behaviour that is in dissonance with what they have portrayed to the general public. You portray a certain persona to be voted into power and when reality hits you, the only way out is to be a “clearing agent” and pretend not to have noticed what you vehemently preached against so as to absolve yourself and your corrupt appointees from the corruption cases engulfing you.
In one breathe, it is not my job to clear any person accused of wrongdoing yet the following are cleared.
- BOST scandal involving procurement irregularities and an unlicensed company called Movenpiina. The CEO of BOST was conveniently cleared of wrong doing and understandably so if you know the owners of Movenpiina.
- ‘Cash4Seat’ Parliamentary Committee probe cleared as bogus.
- The Deputy Minister for Sports in the Australia Visa scandal was cleared and re-assigned as Deputy Information Minister.
Lying To Control information by Exercising Power Over The Citizens
This is said to be the most dangerous motive for telling lies by a political leader. It hides information that can be processed by the citizens to make a determination on an issue.
For example, where are the WAEC SHS results? Why is it being withheld? Will it give Ghanaians the insight to access the flagship Free SHS “quantity” agenda by President Akufo-Addo? The holding of the information on the SHS results is an example of exercising power over the parents of the students.
Do the following ring a bell?
- I was misled.
- It has not come to my notice.
- I have forgotten about it.
Lying Due To Lack of Statistical Skills And Unconscious Incompetence
Where a person lacks the cognitive ability to back achievements with statistical analysis, the natural tendency is to lie.
Also where the person is not aware and confident of his skill and proficiency the natural tendency is to create fear in questioning his authority. If you take a critical look at the body language of President Akufo-Addo during his speeches, what he says is in direct contradiction to the anger and militancy in his voice and posture.
Preaching peace but the body is lying and not even being aware he is doing anything wrong. Engaging H.E John Mahama in a national debate will be a big issue for President Akufo–Addo. He will end up making general statements of lies with no statistical backing. The lies will be vividly exposed on an international scale so the best is to avoid it.
Finally, it is said that, if a lie is told several times without being allowed to be disproved, people will assume it is true. President Akufo-Addo has put fear into journalists, closed radio stations that could be channels to disprove the lies and created a culture of silence. Fellow Ghanaians, President Akufo-Addo says we should be citizens and not spectators so we have the right as citizens to resist oppressor’s rule by voting out this lying President on 7th December 2020.