Last Wednesday, February 18, the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), led by its flag bearer for next year’s election, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, organised a massive demonstration in Accra against the government.
According to the party, the demonstration, termed ‘Won gbo’ (we are dying), was to draw the government’s attention to the sufferings of Ghanaians as a result of the almost four years of erratic electricity supply which had brought the new Ghanaian jargon, ‘dumsor’.
Since the first announcement of the demonstration until it took place last Wednesday, there had been sharp exchanges of political diatribes between the ruling party, National Democratic Congress (NDC), and NPP members, sometimes with the Convention People’s
Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) also throwing feeble punches at the NPP.
Statements against demonstration
Last Tuesday, the Asokore Mampong Municipal Chief Executive, Nurudeen Hamidan, was reported to have said that the demonstration was unnecessary and a waste of time.
In his view, if the NPP and its members were serious, they would not channel their energies into a demonstration which would not yield any positive outcome.
The MCE said, “If you ask me, I will say they are wasting their time because it will not change anything. President Mahama will not be pushed into doing anything that will not benefit the country and its people.”
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, was also reported to have said that, "Ghanaians are not stupid, they are very smart people who can discern between the lines and so the NPP could go ahead with its demonstration but should not expect level-headed Ghanaians to join in it.”
To the NDC National Organiser, Kofi Adams, "Their demonstration is not going to solve any problem. It has rather taken away the proper discourse of this subject.” He added that, “If President Kufuor and the NPP had continued the programme laid down by President Rawlings, we will not have been in the situation we find ourselves today.” For his part, the National Youth Organiser of the NDC, Sidii Abubakar, also described the demonstration as needless.
The recently appointed Minister of Power, Kwabena Donkor, who during his vetting promised to bring on board Ghanaians from all the parties to solve the energy crisis, was rather very sarcastic, describing the demonstration as a ‘keepfit exercise’ and an empty political activity.
PNC’s Hassan Ayariga saw the NPP demonstration as a misplaced priority, because according to him, the NPP, which was in office for eight years, could not tackle the energy challenges, and that "if they were able to solve the energy problems, the country would not have been in this situation.’’
The Eastern Regional Vice Chairman of the CPP, Isaac Opare-Addo, accused the NPP of being partly responsible for the current energy crisis, adding that going on a demonstration against the ruling government was nothing but an attempt by the party to throw dust into the eyes of the public to cover its guilt.
Demonstrations are democratic
It is strange that sometimes despite our clamour for democracy, many of us try to treat ingredients of democracy as à la carte menu at a restaurant, forgetting that demonstrations are part of a democratic environment.
Strangely, however, when many NDC top members have been castigating the NPP for going on demonstration, my friend Koku Anyidoho, a deputy General Secretary of the NDC, whom I have criticised before for an unacceptable behaviour under President Mills, has shown his NDC comrades that he has matured and that he properly understands party politics.
Though Anyidoho accuses the NPP of contributing to the ‘dumsor’ because Ghana would have been served better if President Kufuor’s administration had built thermal plants instead of buying what he termed ‘toy generators’ in an attempt to manage the power crisis in 2006, he, nevertheless, saw the ‘won gbo’ demonstration not only as appropriate, but also useful.
According to the deputy NDC General Secretary, since every Ghanaian was feeling the devastating effect of the power crisis, the NPP did the right thing by embarking on a peaceful demonstration, adding that the worsening power condition was having negative effects on die-hard NDC members.
He said while the NDC was in opposition, one area they used to get the NPP’s attention was by embarking on series of demonstrations.
“Our children and wives are suffering. There is too much heat because of ‘dumsor’. In opposition, we (NDC) demonstrated against ROPAL. No one should say it is satan who has led the NPP to do theirs,” he said on one Accra radio station.
Mr Anyidoho told his NDC members that, “They (NPP) are done with the demo; it now behoves government to listen and ensure the impact of the dumsor is reduced. We are all suffering and NDC members are not excluded.”
Adding more beauty to our democratic credentials was President Mahama who says the ‘won gbo’ demonstration has motivated him to fix the power crisis in the country.
President Mahama, who has repeatedly and boldly said he takes full responsibility for the ‘dumsor’ situation, said, “I am emboldened by the demonstration embarked upon by the NPP to solve the power challenges. As President, I take full responsibility for the power crisis and I promise to do everything to get us out of it.” How beautiful could our democracy be than this?
There is no doubt that many Ghanaians are suffering from this ‘dumsor’, now ‘dumdum’, situation which has lasted for over three years.
Many small-scale businesses have lost their businesses while big industries and companies have been under-producing, thereby making losses.
Need for sensible discourse
The situation, therefore, calls for sober reflection and sensible discourse to assuage the rising anger of the people. Therefore, it is inconceivable for anyone, because of dirty politicking, to accuse any section of Ghanaians of deliberately causing this erratic power situation.
It is in view of this that I commend Koku Anyidoho again for sternly cautioning Sam George, a presidential staffer, to stop insulting the government's opponents and other Ghanaians who share opinions on the energy crisis.
Sam George has accused engineers of the Volta River Authority (VRA) of deliberately sabotaging the efforts of government to solve the energy problem. He said the President could not be held responsible for the current energy crisis when VRA engineers who were being paid $10,000 plus juicy allowances and were to ensure that the nation got uninterrupted power were not up to their task.
For this unguarded attacks, Mr Anyidoho said people like Sam George generated troubles for the President and his administration by launching vituperative attacks on virtually everyone in the country. He said the erratic power outage being experienced was a matter of concern for all and “no one should think they can insult their way out of it.”
As Mr President wisely accepts full responsibility for the energy crisis and pleads for time to resolve it, his disrespectful staffer, who on many occasions had insulted people older than himself, challenges the President.
Mr President, Koku is right that the Sam Georges in your office and your government are the problem, and I dare say such people pose more problems to you than the opposition parties.
The longer you continue to keep Sam George, the longer you would continue to face the anger of Ghanaians. Sam George does not come anywhere near even the youngest engineer at VRA and the President must ensure that he apologises to them while he packs his bags and leaves the presidency.
PS: I wish to congratulate the Commissioner of Police, John Kudalor, Director-General of Police Operations, for his sensible policing tactics during the demonstration, when the demonstrators were said to have used routes not approved by the police. Reports indicate that if he had not directed his men to allow the demonstrators, surely we would have a different story to tell. Commissioner, all correct, Sir.
The author is a Political Scientist and Media and Communication Expert.
