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Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

The menace of intolerance

On Monday, May 18, when passing by the Action Chapel Cathedral,  I, as usual, looked for signs of an ongoing prayer meeting which could always be ascertained by the sizeable number of cars parked on the church’s premises.  Well, in need of prayers to ensure a miraculous increase in the value of my income which I have helplessly watched drop by the day with the fallen rate of the cedi to the US dollar, I drove to the church premises ready for action.  

I stopped by two security men and asked them, “Why, a church meeting on a Monday?” Their response was that there had been a revelation in the church that  something very terrible was going to happen in the country and so the church had declared a three-day prayer with fasting.  

There was the need to pray to mitigate the occurrence, impact and effect of that incidence.   “Oh these prophecies,” I thought with a bit of amusement and scepticism. Nevertheless, I went into the prayer cathedral and  joined in the prayers.

I missed the second day of prayer on  May 19 and travelled out of town on May 20.  On the night of May 20, Alhaji Adams Mahama, the Upper East  Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), a devout muslim, family man and taxpayer, was attacked close to his residence by assailants purported to be from the same party and well known by him.  

One of the alleged assailants, Asabke Alangdi, was a close pal and regular beneficiary of Alhaji Adams’s generosity, having frequently contacted the Alhaji for help.  Alhaji Adams, in his magnanimity, had even graciously purchased a bike for Asabke.  

Thus, if the allegation of Asabke  attacking and murdering Alhaji Adams is verified as the truth, then we are still in the world of Brutus and Judas Iscariot.

When I heard of the terrible news on Thursday, my first reaction was: “Is that the terrible occurrence I actively joined in praying against on Monday, May 19?  Then why did he die?  Could it have been worse with more reprisals and more retaliatory deaths?  Could Alhaji have been saved if his wife had driven him to the hospital immediately after the incident occurred without him screaming and shouting for help, with more acid invading his lungs in the process?”

Women empowerment  

 Empowering  women with driving skills has saved many men’s lives.  There are still some men who believe that empowering a wife to drive may make her pompous and rebellious to his authority.  Why wasn’t  he driven by ambulance to Tamale and flown on the first flight to Accra for more medical attention?  Did his wife have that authority to act? Did she have an automated teller machine (ATM) card that she could quickly use outside banking hours to facilitate his evacuation?  Incidentally, the ATM card brings to mind the allegation that the two suspects, Asabke and Gregory, were seen at a bank earlier in the day withdrawing some money. Did the withdrawn cash facilitate the purchase of the acid?  Parliament may have to study and revise legislation on the sale of poisonous and hazardous chemicals.  

The aftermath of this terrible blot on our post-independence political history, equivalent to the murder of General Kotoka, is a call by some elements of the NPP for the resignation of the General Secretary and the Chairman of the party.  Is the chairman whose brother has been charged with murder  also a suspect in a conspiracy to murder or for aiding and abetting the murder of Alhaji Adams?  Has the General Secretary of the NPP been found by the police to be involved in the murder? 

As a former history student who studied the remote and immediate causes of some wars and civil unrests, i wish to pose the questions: ‘what incidents were reported by the party to the police when the general secretary and chairman were violently attacked by party elements when they arrived in Bolga for a meeting on May 14?’ and ‘What other incidents have occurred in the past days, weeks, months and years that have remotely and immediately led to such venom and hatred for which supporters of the same party will visit mayhem on one another, leading to the death of a regional chairman?’

Unacceptable changes  

I was present at the inaugural meeting of the Danquah-Busia Club in Accra held at the YMCA.  Some months later, I participated on  June 2, 1992 in the inauguration by the D-B Club of the NPP at the Ring-way Hotel in Accra.  

The camaraderie that followed bore no semblance to the angry supporters and acid–throwing feats which have marked the party in recent times.  I am still seething at the venom and level of intolerance when a proposal was recently made by the party  to provide 16  female uncontested seats out of the 275  seats in Ghana. 

The explanation for not pushing the proposal to the end was that when the NPP wins power, there will be ministerial and other appointments for the women.  Will the NPP be able to win power without empowering its women and tolerating their inclusion through giving them positions in the party by affirmative action? Will there be tolerance of party members who recently joined the party if they qualify to contest executive and influential positions? 

Will the Alan-Nana debacle and factions that have bedevilled the party since 2007 be put to rest at the grass roots by smoking a peace pipe through the medium of mediation, conflict prevention and resolution?  

A party is a mass movement that should always be packaging itself to attract more members and clinching deals with other parties.  It should never degenerate into an exclusive cult of allegiance to mere mortals.  

All forms of socio-economic, partisan and political intolerance and exclusion should, as an ongoing and continuous process, be named and expunged from our homes, communities, religious, traditional and political party groupings so that the threats are nipped in the bud before they degenerate or escalate into a national tragedy.

 

The writer is a  Lawyer, Political Scientist & President of Women Assistance and Business Association (WABA).

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