Have we lost our sense of sympathy?
Weeks ago, I watched a discussion on TV3 and part of the issues was about the state of health of the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo.
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The Deputy Communications Minister Felix Ofosu Kwakye was on the show with Titus Glover, the NPP parliamentary candidate for Tema East.
The discussion was already underway when I joined so I began to wonder what triggered discussions on such sensitive and confidential details. I felt great indignation but on that issue, Felix was a good ambassador by not condescending into unnecessary politicking.
Days later, I chanced on the African Watch Magazine with the caption “NPP campaign in Jeopardy—Akufo-Addo has cancer.” My immediate retort was: “Oh my God. This can’t be.”
Without even tossing the truth or otherwise of the claim, I bought the magazine. I was worried because I know that, cure for cancer has eluded orthodox and traditional medicine for decades.
Generally, news of cancer diagnosis is bad. If the best available chemotherapy treatment was sufficient, Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan president with all the resources at his disposal would have lived.
Assuming, without admitting or denying that, Nana was unwell, the least I expected was unreserved sympathy for Nana Addo and not the way the African Watch Magazine handled it.
It was simply below the belt and I will not accentuate and perpetuate the details of what I saw in the magazine. I believe it is this publication that sparked discussions of Nana’s health on TV3 that morning.
Prof. Evans Atta Mills
In the past, the health of Professor Evans Atta Mills, may his soul rest in peace, was the subject of unnecessary and devious politics and it came across in bad taste.
My question is: Have we lost our sense of decency and sympathy? Culturally and socially, when somebody is down with a terminal ailment, friends and family show a lot of love and support. Studies have shown that, social and family support is key in not only mitigating the burden of being terminally ill, but in prolonging the lives.
After reading the magazine and following commentaries on the matter, I couldn’t help but conclude that, we are losing our sense of decency and sympathy.
The NPP has been on the defensive and is crusading that its presidential candidate is fit and embracing the rigours of political campaign and hopefully presidential office.
We are in the political season and all that matters to political parties is to consolidate strongholds and increase votes. Due to inordinate lust for power, anything is possible—even if inappropriate and immoral.
Politics is fast blurring the line between good conscience and decency on one side and malicious and indecent conduct on the other side.
I have also wondered what political capital is derivable from Nana’s alleged health and to whose benefit.
Will today’s voter decide not to vote for a candidate only because he is alleged to have a terminal disease? In fact, it might rather engender sympathy.
I do not want to venture into legalities but what baffles me is how such details of Nana’s health, assuming it is true at all, could fall into the hands of a third party.
Legal requirement
In any case, a seemingly healthy president may die too. No one knows the day he will die. I find it repugnant and shocking to good conscience that such a private and confidential matter will be splashed in the open political space.
The insensitivity on the part of Africa Watch is unforgivable and must be collectively and roundly condemned. As far as I am concerned, there is no legal requirement that an aspirant to the office of president must have a clean bill of health.
If, as a people, we think that it has become necessary for an aspiring president to maintain a certain health status to be able to contest for president, then let us conceive a strong policy bases for that and amend the constitution by adding to provisions under Article 62 of the 1992 constitution which prescribes the qualifications for election as president.
At the moment, an aspiring president is not required to pass a standard health test.
The long and short of the needless details in the African Watch Magazine is to suggest that if Nana were actually sick with cancer, etc., he may pass on (God forbid) before or after he is elected as president.
Assuming, without saying so, that Nana is unwell, the Africa Watch Magazine failed to say if the doctors had said Nana had few months or so to live.
In any case, from what Africa Watch put out, Nana should not be alive by now from lay perspective. The framers of our constitution recognise our mortality; and even as president, one is not excused.
It is the reason why the framers provided, under Article 60 clause 6, that “Whenever the president dies...” and goes on with succession plans.
Admittedly, it will be good to have a president who could serve his entire term but since we are not God and hardly possess the power of clairvoyance, we cannot tell if even a seemingly healthy president will live through his term.
When Professor Mills passed, we followed the succession plan, if Africa Watch cares to know.
Ghana received accolades for that smooth transition in 2012. My friendly advice to National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters and communicators is that, they should resist the temptation of making allegations of Nana’s health an issue in this campaign.
It will not sell, at least not to people like us. I believe President John Dramani Mahama has done well as president and the battle can be successfully fought on the evidence.
There have been and there still are challenges during his tenure, but the president’s attempts at resolving them are encouraging. I believe the test of a good president/leader is how he handles challenges.
Allegations of Nana’s health will not boost his campaign and as leader of his party, His Excellency should whip his team into proper line.