Together we thrive
Some jobs, it is said, are best understood by those who have themselves faced the fire, and that was probably the thinking which propelled President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to hold a two-hour meeting with the three living former Presidents at the Flagstaff House last Tuesday.
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President Akufo-Addo had dropped hints in his inaugural and the first State of the Nation addresses that he was contemplating pulling off such a feat when he referred to himself as being lucky to have three former Presidents still alive to consult on national issues.
So he has gladdened many hearts by going on to meet former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Mahama in what has been described as a good atmosphere of frank exchanges and mutual respect.
We have been told the discussions were dominated by issues which included the economy, security and socio-political concerns. The whole gamut of the discussions may not be known to us for a while, but the fact that the four gentlemen met to talk about Ghana is commendable.
Great minds all don’t think alike and so we can safely assume that the gentlemen approached the discussions from very different political stances. Whatever influenced the positions they put forward, we know it is better for our democracy to encourage such personal interactions than rallying supporters to cause an unnecessary commotion.
The suggestions or views that were thrown up during the meeting may not bring immediate changes to our circumstances, but we trust that the symbolism of the meeting alone could trigger better notions of togetherness among us.
For a long time now we have looked on as partisanship tear us apart. Democracy is about choices and so there is nothing wrong with people aligning themselves to different groupings, but we harm ourselves when we allow our different political colours to impede our forward march.
President Akufo-Addo and his government are pursuing policies that the three former Presidents may not agree with. Given the opportunity again, they may take us in directions different from where we are going now; but it was respectable for the President to sit with them and hear their views on matters affecting the state.
A number of civil society organisations have already spoken positively about the meeting and urged the President to make it a regular feature of his administration. Those organisations are aware that a nation that puts its interests above partisanship is more likely to succeed than the one that upholds divisiveness.
Some of the older democracies we seek to emulate have clear-cut ideological differences among their various parties. The parties have, however, managed to survive and are collectively braving the myriad of challenges that come their way because they put their nations above sectional differences.
In some places, there are even coalition governments, comprising parties with opposing views, but they try to be bedfellows for the sake of their countries. We have, for ages, said Ghana is the only country we have, but our utterances, especially on political platforms, sometimes betray that notion.
If we truly believe that this is the only country we can genuinely call our own, then we must uphold the principles of inclusiveness and learn to accommodate on another for better progress. At least, President Akufo-Addo and his three predecessors have started pointing the way and we must support the move.