THE POLITICS OF AUDACITY.

In recent times, I have been shocked at the audacity with which some people in government have been accusing members of opposition parties of various ‘crimes’. I have always been of the view that responsible men never had to make wild and unfounded allegations against their fellow men if they were not willing to have their own names dragged in the mud for similar reasons. But it so happens that some people within government do not agree with me on this. They rather believe that they have the right to say whatever they want about anyone but woe to whoever they pick on if the person chooses to respond.

To specifically look at the issue, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo has suffered several allegations at the hands of the NDC. Ever since his assumption of the mandate to be the flag bearer of the NPP, he has not been left alone. In 2008, we heard he was a cocaine addict. He has also been portrayed as an infidel, a thief, an irresponsible father, a corrupt official, a fraud of a lawyer and an alcoholic. If his character was a person living among us, I believe it would be dead by now since it has been assassinated. It is very critical that we all as Ghanaians note two things:

1. No senior member of the NDC has come out to call any member of their party to order for pursuing such a destructive agenda. Our president, H.E. Atta Mills, who is busy enlisting the clergy to help promote is “Peace in Ghana project” has never seen anything wrong with it neither has his vice or any other member. As for former president Rawlings and his wife, they have actually dabbled in such accusations by saying Nana is not a lawyer.

2. On the contrary, the papers that have persistently pushed such allegations have received praise and commendation on various platforms from the NDC. Some of them were actually given stat recognition when they were sent abroad as part of government delegations.

In law, there is a principle that one cannot use the reputation of an individual as part of a proceeding against him unless he does bring in his reputation as an element of his defense. In other words, it is not allowed for me to accuse a man of being likely to commit a crime because he is reputed for doing so unless he says he has a reputation for not doing so. If he does bring such a defense (that his reputation suggests that he would not do the suggested thing), then I can also bring evidence to suggest the contrary.

My last point is very relevant in that I am seeking to lay the foundation for the arguments and accusations I am going to make in the following paragraphs. It is a ‘crime’ for the pot to call the kettle black but if the pot has no fear to call the kettle black, then most definitely the kettle should not refrain from telling the kettle to take a closer look at its own colour.

THE NATION WITH A LOST FIRST SON

Ghanaian culture places a lot of importance on children. Women who are unable to give birth are made to pay for their ‘sins’ by a vast majority of the populace. In as much as some of us may not agree with the practice that is just what it is. It is even worse when it is known that a man cannot give birth. That man is treated with disdain and not called ‘a man.’ But in sharp contrast to this behavior, when one has children, they are displayed like assets especially at family gatherings and other social events. It is almost as if the statement is being made to the world that that “look, here are my children, I am not a barren woman or an impotent man.”

That said, why is it that as a nation, our president is refusing to comply with this culture by showing us his only son? Is he (the son) deformed beyond repair or are his moral flaws are so pronounced that the president is ashamed of him? What is wrong with him and why can we not be told?

Ex. President Rawlings brought his children to some state function like Independence Day and Republic Day. We all know his four children as we take pride in that. Ex-President Kuffour made us all know who his children were. Even though some opposition elements at the time claimed that his children were more corrupt than his officials, the ex- president still boldly made us know who our first children were. So what does the president have to hide about his child? Really what has the boy done to deserve such treatment? I hope one of the spokespersons in the NDC responds to this issue.

Perhaps it is the issue of his parentage; that he was born out of wedlock and maybe our first lady is not so comfortable with him. If that be so, I call on the president to be a man and let his son be his son. From stories we are being told so far, this boy has never enjoyed his father because of whatever reasons may exist. That is unfair to him and the nation.

REMOVE THE LOG FROM YOUR EYES NDC.

We have a vice president who has children with other women. It is being alleged that one of his ‘baby mamas’ is now the third in command at the Ghanaian High Commission in London. It is also being alleged that he has a child with a Zimbabwean woman in Reading. Can the NDC speak about these issues first and stop taking about non truths?

Now to the point I made earlier about the ability to bring one’s reputation into a case when it is used in his defense. The first gentleman of the land who has been said to be a man of honesty and integrity is also one that gave birth out of wedlock. In other words, he broke the sacred vows of holy matrimony and defiled his marital bed with another woman. Yet still, the NDC still regard him as honest. How honest is a man who cannot keep a simple vow to his wife? Charity begins at home so if this man was uncharitable in his own home, how charitable will he be to a whole nation? He is not being a father to his own child, birthed from his loins, how can he father 22.5 million people?

I would leave it hear and wait for the answers. If the propaganda machinery of the NDC decides to go to work, they would realize that they are not the only ones with mouths.

THE IMPUDENCE OF PROPAGANDA.

I am a ghanaian and though i may have sympathies towards some political parties, what you are about to read is not an attack on a party but the conduct of some officials within it. i say this because of the current trend that has emerged in the country, where every comment is branded as belonging to one party or the other and innocent citizens are vilified or rewarded by the powers that be. As far as I am concerned, both the two major political parties in our mother are both guilty of so many crimes.

However, believers in the rule of law (constitutionalism) like myself find some conduct unacceptable. When the National Security, which is supposed to uphold and defend the constitution of the republic, blatanly suppresses the human rights of a perceived or alledged criminal, I find that to be unacceptable. The law is expressly clear that you cannot hold a person for more that 48 hours in custody without charging him or her, so the security agencies have no right holding a person beyond that. If ghana were some other domain, they would have received a lot of flak for that. But it is even more unacceptable when a politician of national repute, who speaks for the party in government, comes on air and attempts to rationalise it.

What business did Mr. Quarshigah, the propaganda secretary of the ruling NDC have attempting to address the issue of the arrest of a supposed NPP activist? Is he the new Interior minister? Or perhaps he is the PR of the ministry? That aside, why was he trying to say that the NPP was making the administration of National Security difficult because they were asking or the release of a man who had been kept beyond the constitutionally mandated limits? I mean was he being serious? Really? And then what did he hope to achieve by raising the National Security flag? His conduct raises serious questions which must be addressed.

Firstly, is the government embarking on a series of politically motivated arrests or not? I say this against the background of recent arrests made in the Ya-Na murder case, where only one family has had their kinsmen getting arrested whilst the other family treads in peace. If the Government has no such agenda, then why is it that officials of the ruling party who have no positions in government are the ones defending actions of state security? Or there is no longer a division between the national governance and the ruling party? Mr. Quarshigah's action of attempting to defend this irrationality leaves serious questions about the agenda of his party.

Secondly, it also raises questions of the ruling party's respect for the law. We are still dealing with the fallout of the President's last trip to South africa and whether he obeyed th law in addressing parliament before he left the country. And then right on the heel of that experience, we have this: another blatant disregard of the law. Do our politicians respect the law?

In my opinion, he should apologise immediately. and if he does not, he should know we are watching.

BREEDING THE PHENENOMENA OF ANTI-POLITICS IN GHANA.

You can fool some people all the time. You can also fool all the people some of the time but you definitely cannot fool all the people all of the time.

I believe this is the message that the political parties and politicians must keep in mind when they are dealing with the people of Ghana. I say this because it is so appalling and disrespectful the way our current breed of politicians seem to think that they can fool all the people all the time. When they are in opposition, they criticize almost anything and everything and try to make us (ghanaians) realise the sense in what it is that they are saying. But let them arrive in the corridors of power and then suddenly, the very same things that were wrong become right. Power has been known to corrupt and absolute power may corrupt absolutely but do we the noble citizens of our motherland, who are striving to better ourselves deserve to be treated thus?

My major concern in this article is that through their actions and inactions, politicians are breeding the phenomena of anti-politics in this country. Anti-politics may be seem as that phenomena where the people in a state or political society loose faith in the ability of the prevailing order to secure and promote their general interests.When such a phenomena occurs, people may react in so many ways including supporting revolutions, anarchy and the likes. In my opinion, Ghana is slowly getting there and I continue to prove this.

When was the last time you heard an individual say "whether it is NDC or NPP in power, they are all cut from the same cloth"? One more such saying is "all politicians are corrupt, they only care about themselves and their families"? Yet another is the assertion is that" i would never again vote in an election because they really dont make any difference." the next question is how frequently do you hear these statements being made? For a person like me, I hear them almost on a daily basis and it is so frightening. It seems that we (as a nation) are turning and turning in an ever widening gyre. And soon, maybe, we may not hear our falconers (politicians). My fear is that when it get to that stage, nothing but mere anarchcy would be loosed upon our peaceful motherland.

Honestly, I hope I am a false prophet on this issue but sadly only time will tell. as a lonesome bard that watches but speaks not, moves but is not seen and yet speaks but it is not heard, my time to depart once again is now.