We must be at one
Sometimes our politicians are guilty of what George Orwell describes as double-speak. While they are ready to condemn a situation or statement as abominable if it comes from a political opponent, they are swift in rationalising and justifying the same statement or situation if it involves a political ally.
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That explains why there are different reactions to the two situations, where in the first place a former Minister of State, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, crudely appealed to Ewes to vote massively for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) otherwise any New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration will wantonly persecute and prosecute Ewes serving under the NDC, and the second is the reference to religion by Dr Mahamadu Bawumiah that Ghanaians should vote for the NPP such that both Christians and Muslims would have a share in the presidency.
In the first case, while many within the NPP and others with non-partisan interests cautioned restraint and emphasised the need for Mrs Attivor to apologise and retract her statement, almost each person within the ranks of the NDC either justified or rationalised the statement. Similarly, with the case of Dr Bawumiah, NDC activists have been quick in demanding a retraction and apology while many within the NPP have tried to justify the comment.
It must be possible that we collectively develop objective criteria for assessing situations and statements such that we could evolve common standards of language for political campaigns. We have to ensure that political discourse employs decent language and reflect themes that will give dignity to our politics.
We have to appreciate that ethnicity and religion are volatile areas that could be exploited for political advantage but whose implications both the beneficiaries and losers cannot predict. By all means we would have to appeal to emotions and the base instincts of people to win them over to our side, but we must be mindful about what we say to them, since we all have an interest in building a stronger united Ghana.
The fact that many of those who have expressed disgust at the use of religion by Dr Bawumiah have done so on the basis that they never expected him to have gone that way is enough compliment to his pedigree and the fact that so far he has conducted himself with decorum. In other words, if it were some other politicians, one could not have ruled out comments such as “we are not surprised or what else could you have expected.”
Therefore, my expectation is that it should not be difficult for Dr Bawumiah to apologise and retract the statement. He could have said the same thing better if he had focused on the need for Christians and Muslims to live together as one people.
But the greatest lesson is that our politicians must begin to call a spade by its name, rather than the resort to euphemism and sarcasm, as a way of either denting the image of political opponents or scoring cheap political points. If a reference to religion is bad for national politics because it undermines national cohesion and unity, any resort to ethnicity to arouse sentiments or any acts of nepotism is equally evil and destructive of togetherness and peaceful co-existence.
It is equally important for institutions of state such as the National Peace Council, the Council of State, National Media Commission, National Commission on Civic Education and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice to be proactive at all times and thorough in their condemnation of all political acts that do not promote national peace, unity, order and cohesion. If they keep quiet for too long when some of these developments take place, they render themselves liable to suspicion when they come out at other times against similar developments. They must never be tired of speaking against any untoward acts aimed at partisan political gain at the expense of the nation.
As a people, we must be interested in upholding principles rather than the pursuit of partisan interests. We should not hesitate before we condemn what is abominable not because of who is involved. We must have the same measuring rod; otherwise our values would be perverted and meaningless. As long as we look the other way when our members are the culprits but quickly discover our morality with opponents, we are rendered as hypocrites and charlatans. We must cherish our integrity and sense of pride. What is evil is evil and cannot be so because of who is involved.
For now it appears an even score between the NDC and NPP. It would be prudent for the National Peace Council to keep up the tempo when the campaigns intensify, otherwise it will be accused of bias and wanton selectivity.