Increasing the conversation on national unity
In the run-up to last year’s general election, some well-meaning citizens drew attention to the increasing tension in our society.
Advertisement
We recall that platforms were created for the media and political party leaders to devise means to reduce the political polarisation caused by media reportage and political platform outbursts.
During the electioneering, media practitioners were called upon to be circumspect in their reportage, while politicians were prevailed upon to avoid hate speech and insulting language and rather dwell on the issues.
Somehow, we managed to conduct peaceful elections, although the presidential results are the subject of litigation in the Supreme Court.
We shall be wrong to conclude that everybody was satisfied with the activities of the political parties last year, as there were occasions when the political temperature was very high, with some of the players behaving as if the 2012 polls were a do-or-die affair.
Unlike in other countries where the conduct of polls and their outcomes had led to serious conflicts, Ghana remains a peaceful country.
In spite of the court litigation, Ghana and its democratic practice are the reference points for good democratic governance in Africa, and that is why any signal of increasing polarisation in the body politic should be a matter of concern to all.
We are not against dissent in our society, as the ethos of multi-party democracy requires that the electorate are offered choices and politicians given the platform to present their programmes to the people.
Even countries with deep-seated one-party ideologies have seen the advantage of opening up the political space, so that the people can be encouraged to contribute to the conduct of public affairs.
After six successful elections and 20 years of democratic governance, our country should have made tremendous progress in growing the culture of tolerance and the need for consensus building.
Sometimes, remarks by some leading members of the two dominant political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), give the impression of a country on the verge of war with its bitterest enemy.
In a country with “one people and a common destiny” as one of its guiding principles, that kind of hatred expressed by some figures in the two political parties does not augur well for the future, especially at a time when the energies of the people must be tapped for nation building.
We live in very peculiar circumstances, judging from the results of the last two elections that give a clear picture that the country is divided along two ideological persuasions.
The time has come for a conscious effort to bridge the growing division in the country and the gap between the two political ideologies.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, considers the call by a retired Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe, for a national conversation to draw plans to avert political polarisation as timely if we are to sustain the democratic culture in the country.
According to him, a national consciousness for consensus in all Ghanaian activities was important to bridge the polarised political environment in the country which did not augur well for its democracy.
Today in Ghana, competent people risk being jobless if they belong to the political party in opposition because of the policy of winner-takes-all that we have practised since 1993.
We always speak about the dangers inherent in that policy, as it does not harness the country’s human resource for national development, yet very little is done to address it.
Anytime our governments have attempted to promote an all-inclusive government to narrow the polarisation, it has been seen as a token of participation.
The Daily Graphic thinks that as a country we must rise up against the winner-takes-all policy and speed up action to narrow the division in our society by accepting that democratic governance can only thrive if the players live by the principles of diversity, tolerance, consensus-building and dissent.
Let us abandon the highly charged atmosphere of elections the moment the results are announced and pool all the resources of the country for nation building, regardless of our political affiliations.