Some months ago, the Ashanti Regional chairman of one of the biggest political parties in the country allegedly slapped a Member of Parliament (MP) in his own party. After the agitations and complaints, the acting national chairman of the same party told journalists that the conduct of his subordinate was an ‘occupational hazard’. That national party chairman is also on record to have said: “If you touch him (regional chairman), you touch the party.”
I grieved and I cried upon hearing and reading those comments. What worsened my pain was the fact that the victim of the alleged attack withdrew the case from the police. Unfortunately, however, the leadership of the party also went mute over that shameful and typical act of lawlessness and indiscipline.
A few months passed and there was another MP who mounted a political platform and virtually stripped the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) naked. The words used were soo unbecoming of a character wanting to be called ‘Honourable’.
I grieved and I cried because there again, that MP’s party shied away from condemning this reckless conduct. Instead, there were people one might describe as responsible personalities within the party who urged him on. In this instance, I expected the women in the party of which the MP belonged to have reacted in defence of their fellow woman but that did not happen.
Just a few weeks ago, three characters who claim to be journalists because they have an opportunity to sit behind a radio console to spew venom on innocent individuals in society were sentenced to jail for four months. They were charged with contempt of court among other things.
But again, I grieved and I cried when I heard bigwigs in the government among other people mass up at the headquarters of the ruling party to support a call for the release of the convicts. To them, those truants were their idols and once they had apologised that should be the end of the matter.
Even worse was when some of the leaders in the party described the act as freedom of speech. That was when I noticed how broken and damaged the societal fabric had become. It is to the extent that we do not even respect age (elderly) and authority. I ask myself, would these three have sat aloof to watch another person younger than them openly insult and threaten their parents under the guise of freedom of speech?
We seem to live in a country ruled by politicians whose upbringing can now be questioned because they seem not to know the difference between good and evil; decency and respect for authority. All they think about is power and the squandering of the poor taxpayer’s money once they succeed to ascend that throne which is supposed to be most revered.
I grieved and I cried when I also noticed that people calling themselves Ga chiefs also joined this senseless campaign. What I saw in the news has made me less a typical Ga from James Town British Accra than I was before. Shame.
I grieved and I cried because two prominent female ministers of state whom I so respected and revered had also appended their signatures to that disgraceful campaign only to put unnecessary pressure on the President. What a pity.
I grieve and I cry because I look around today and I can tell how rotten the country has become. People do what pleases them and the law is sleeping because the very ones who will ensure its enforcement are themselves the worst culprits. Government officials do not respect simple road traffic rules. Many of them and the ordinary party faithful have installed sirens in their vehicles and drive around in town without regard for traffic regulations. Once they honk, they expect the road to be clear for them to pass.
I grieve and I cry because today, even the forest cover in many areas are being stolen by greedy politicians who are using their power to amass wealth today and not thinking about the future generation.
I grieve and I cry because politicians are using the airwaves to attack one another and casting insinuations at each other, forgetting that their wards may be listening and will adopt that posture in future. What are we teaching our young ones we call our future leaders? Is this what we call leadership? We steal to make a living; we kill to amass wealth and we lie to the marrow, all in the name of politics.
But in all these, I blame the very people who go and stand in the sun in long queues to vote for these people who after luring us with the pesewas, get to political office to steal a billion-fold what they invested in us when they wanted our thumb.
I grieve and I cry because I see no future for this country judging from the way things are panning out. I grieve and I cry because there are numerous ills around us that I cannot even talk about because of the limited space I have to express my disgust at our corrupt nature.
Who will sooth my pain and who will wipe my tears when none seem clean.
