This weekend, I have been thinking about a few things.

Like my twin cousins, Panyin and Kakra. Those two loved to fight when we were kids. They were always yelling at, scratching, biting, punching, kicking, and slapping each other. They could go at it all day - until someone else hits one of them. Immediately, they stop fighting each other and start raining down a world of pain on whoever was dumb enough to attack one of them. It was always so amusing how a common enemy could unite the brawling brothers so quickly.

This weekend, I have been thinking about a few things.

Like how in Ghana, we politicize every single issue. It seems we believe there is an NPP-NDC angle to every situation of human life. The biggest story last week was the apparently staged kidnapping of the Takoradi Radio Presenter. Yesterday, I came across a post on facebook, blaming President Mahama for what happened with this woman! You should have seen the  comments on this post! NPP supporters, saying this would never happen under Akufo-Addo's watch, and NDC followers listing the number of crime hoaxes that were reported during the Kufuor Administration… it was ridiculous.

That was not the first time I'd encountered this unnecessary politicisation of issues either. From Joyce Dzidzor's supposedly fake HIV status to the disappearance of Castro, Ghanaians will find a way to use everything to score points the political party they support. Now, this is a true source of concern to me because, as a nation, our problems do not care who we vote for. They affect us all, not just the followers of one party.

Dumsor is not only plunging NPP followers into darkness. All businesses are feeling the brunt. The owners of companies that are laying workers off and closing their gates are not NDC sympathisers only.

The cedi continues to fall. This is seriously affecting livelihoods across the nation. Livelihoods of CPP, PPP, NPP, NDC - all of us. If Ebola ever shows its head within our shores - God forbid - it won't just single out members of one party to infect.

As a nation, our issues are no respecters of a person's political affiliation. So if our problems are not partisan in nature, then how can we solve them with partisan politics?

Condoleezza Rice knew exactly how my twin cousins felt, when she said, "We need a common enemy to unite us". My friends, there are no commoner enemies to Ghana than Dumsor and our current economic hardships. There is only one way we can fight these common enemies, and it will require you to do something totally out of your comfort zone. Something you may never have had occasion to do in your entire lives. You are going to have to put Ghana before your party.

Yes, I know it is going to be difficult, but that is quite literally the only way to overcome our national challenges. When Tony Blair took Britain to war in Iraq over weapons of mass destruction, it was after a bitter parliamentary battle. His own backbenchers voted against  him in large numbers, and he ended up securing war approval by the skin of his teeth. But guess what: once the vote was cast and the decision to go to war was made, the whole of parliament got behind the action to send troops over to Iraq.

Suddenly, there was a common enemy called Saddam Hussein, and when it came to dealing with him, there was no difference between Labour and Conservative party members. That ability to put aside our differences and unite behind an idea, rather than a personality or party, is Ghana's only way out of our troubles. Please, my friends, I am not exaggerating when I say it is THE ONLY WAY.

I wonder if you know what this means. It means if after reading this, you still continue your "Mahama is a Dumsor" and "How many megawatts did the NPP add" type of conversations, then you're saying you do not wish for Ghana to ever solve these problems that we face. Sorry, but there is no other logical explanation for why you would prefer to score political points with our problems instead of offer solutions to them. The problems affect all of us, so the solutions must come from all of us.

My name is Kojo Yankson, and this weekend, I have been thinking about some things. Like how putting your country first means putting your politics second.

GOOD MORNING, GHANAFO!