Irritant dysfunction
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For instance, in 1993 after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) complained that the November 1992 Presidential election was rigged and boycotted the subsequent parliamentary election, the party refused to seek redress in the courts for lack of faith in the judiciary. The party went on to write ‘The Stolen Verdict’ in which it chronicled the claims of rigging.
When in 1997, the NPP decided to go to court to challenge the decision of government to retain Ministers of State without prior approval by Parliament; there were some within the NDC who described the action as coming from those who flipped through the Constitution as a full time job for litigation.
In the campaigns preceding the 2008 general election, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu described our judicial system as a Kangaroo Court, but when she appeared before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee for consideration as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, she explained that her statement was a mere campaign platform talk.
A former Minister of Local Government, Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, attracted the ire of the public when he was reported to have said that the increased spate of robbery in the country was the handiwork of opposition elements.
When a former MP from the NPP was arrested in the US for dealing in narcotic drugs, members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) used that to smear the NPP as a cocaine party. Indeed, the shouting and ugly noises were heralded by now Council of State Member, Madam Ama Benyiwa Doe, then Women Organiser of the NDC.
Even former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, was reported to have referred to Mr E. T. Mensah, MP for Ningo-Prampram, who had shown courtesy by joining the President who was on a visit to his constituency, as Odwan mεεmεε, meaning a bleating sheep, because of how he was submissive in the presence of the President.
When it comes to fuel prices, at all times, you hear counter arguments as to which party is inhuman or who wants to run the economy better. While the NPP was in power and decided to follow a policy of full recovery of petroleum prices to raise money for sustainable development, they were described by the NDC as lacking sensitivity to human-centred policies. Then when the mantle fell on the NDC and it took the same path, it was informed by the foresight to raise funds for development since government has no business subsidising fuel for a few.
That far, the average Ghanaian has not been told which is the best policy for national development, outside those in leadership at any given time. This way, it may be difficult to build national consensus on the subject matter of petrol price fixing. The politicians have been cutting their noses to spite their faces, yet they blame the public for making politics unattractive.
Currently running are two major national issues that demand national attention, but which are being presented in partisan manner. The first is the arrest in the US of the Chief Executive Officer of Sohin Security Services, managers of our national airport for dealing in narcotic drugs. The other is the unending mystery fires destroying markets and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians.
These are developments that have serious implications on our safety and security and must be discussed in open, candid and nationalistic manner. But no, politics would have to be introduced into the equation.
First, the government has tried to do everything possible to disassociate itself from the narcotics allegation. The government acted pre-emptively to escape the charge of the fact that Solomon Adelaquaye, who is at the centre of the drug smuggling, is close to the ruling party. Those on the side of the NPP have now started describing the NDC as a cocaine party.
With the market fires, comments by Nii Lante Vanderpuije, MP and Deputy Minister of Trade and especially the open claim by the National Chairman of the NDC, Dr Kwabena Adjei, that elements from the opposition party, NPP, are behind the fires, are unfortunate and fraught with poisoned environment.
They would live to be haunted by the present in the near future. However, it is never my wish that there should be vengeance. My objective is to submit that such crass and petty developments not only undermine national aspirations, but fuel divisiveness and sectarian animosities. The issues of ‘us and them’ do not help.
What we must all learn is the reality by the historian who has said that when those who have died speak to the living, it is about the fact that “what you are, we were, what we are now, you shall be”.
We need to agree with our elders that ‘emmere woho yi, yεnni nkaso’ meaning, No one can reign forever, but if we build a nation of principle, we shall all benefit from it.
Article by Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh