[ 2012-04-28 ]

The Need For Us To Preserve Our Peace
For sometime now, the Ghanaian political scene has
been characterized by a perceived animosity
between the two major political parties in the
country – the NDC and the NPP. Anything concerning
the development of the nation has been
politicized, with one group blaming the other for
maladministration. It seems to be a blame game all
over.

It is worth mentioning that in the sub region,
Ghana is considered as one of the most peaceful
and serene countries and this is substantiated by
the investor- confidence reposed in the nation and
evidenced by the huge quantum of loans we have
been able to secure so far for development.

However, if care is not taken, the peace we enjoy
today will become an illusion. This is because;
the opposition NPP almost always sees nothing good
about the NDC administration. This is inherent in
some of the inflammatory and repulsive tribal and
ethnocentric comments often coming from their
members, which as some say could plunge the
country into chaos and anarchy if care is not
taken.

There are clear enough evidences in speeches
coming from the likes of the National Youth
Organizer of the NPP, Anthony Kaboo, who
threatened the Afghanistan type of war in Ghana if
the Electoral Commission does not declare the
election in their favor coming December 2012.

He was reported to have incited the party's youth
wing in the Northern region to be militants and
fight to ensure victory for the party, the
National Chairman of the Party, Jake Obetsebi
Lamptey was reported to have said that, guns are
cheap as 'kose' literally referring to beancake,
so they could acquire as many guns as possible to
start a war should they lose the elections to the
NDC.

The most recent comment which seem to have jarred
the minds of Ghanaians is the one from the MP for
Assin North, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who on his
own Accra based FM station, usurped the powers of
the sitting president to unconstitutional declare
war on Ewes and Gas in the Ashanti region, that
“Today I declare war in this country, Gbewlo
Lartey and his people, IGP should know this
Voltarians in the Ashanti Region will not be
spared. If anyone touches you, butcher them with a
cutlass.” A statement described by the civil
society grups and Ghanaians as most disgusting,
shameful, disgraceful and horrendous to say the
least. He has been arrested, detained and
subsequently granted bail. The matter is before
court.

What we should be asking ourselves is – Is Ghana
for any particular group of people? Who gets
elected if the nation becomes ungovernable? Is
anyone above the law? Should we lose the peace
that we enjoy today, what becomes of us?

We on The True Statesman believe that the
posturing of the NPP towards peace and their
actions in numerous instances indicates that, they
are not prepared to give peace a chance. The
interesting thing about these comments is that,
none of the party executives appear to have seen
anything wrong with them.

Both ex-president J.A Kuffuor and the present
presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Akuffo
Addo appear to have endorsed the genocidal
comments of the MP.

Interestingly, the Ghana Journalist Association
appears to have been diplomatic in their stance
calling for a National broadcasting law, the
National Media Commission made no statement about
the comment and the Ghana Independent Broadcasting
Association all appear to be silent over it.

Of crucial importance is the peace we are enjoying
today and if any individual or group of
individuals thinks they can take the country for
granted for their own parochial interest, they
must know Ghana is bigger than them.

As Ghanaians we must know that if as a result of
the action or inaction of a group of people, the
democratic process gets derailed, we have nowhere
to go but, suffer the bitter consequences of chaos
and anarchy. We must put Ghana first and above
everything else.

Source - The True Statesman

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