Statement: Young politicians must speak with conviction - PPP

The Supreme Court exercised its powers and reprimanded some individuals whose remarks and commentary about the court proceedings were considered contemptuous and were likely to undermine the integrity of the judiciary. Yes! In my opinion, the outcome reached by the Justices of the Supreme Court on the matter cannot be queried. I believe it is in the right direction.

However, in a very simplistic approach to appraising the decision by the court, I will not dare attempt to scrutinize the ruling by the Supreme Court on Stephen Atubiga and Kenneth Kuranchie. It is not even part of my books to delve into the merits and demerits of the case. I believe the Judges know best and the verdict given by them must be respected accordingly. It is all in the interest of sanitizing and safeguarding the sovereignty of this country.

The hub of this discussion would be expounded based on the key components of leadership which I have categorized as conviction, attitude and commitment. The youth must appreciate and acknowledge the essence of these attributes and how it can be harmoniously amalgamated to satisfy the needs of the proletariat who look up to individuals in the upper echelon of the political ladder for direction and solution. The young people must desist from stomach politics and use their energy and knowledge to generate light and not produce heat in the political space. They must provide direction to the under-privileged and not compound their poverty with vile propaganda.

What really happened in court demonstrates two different characters of leadership. We have now seen those who are mere imprudent and those who are wise; the strong and the weak, the fake and original. It also depicts the fact that we are all not the same. Even though, there are some people who understand the direction they are going, majority of us just follow the crowd without asking where they are going and where exactly is their destination.

On the key element of conviction, I wish to admonish young politicians to learn to act responsibly and be more conscious with the utterances they make. They should learn to speak based on what is right and just, and not the desire of their stomachs. Many are the youth who speak on radio and television without any recourse to personal convictions or dogmas. Value must be given to words and people must be circumspect with what they say on air. They must consider their appearance on such platforms as a mere privilege by showing some level of respect and politeness to the listeners and viewers. If politicians do not believe in what they tell us, then we have a big problem on our hands.

People must learn to stand by what they say. You don't apologise simply because the Supreme Court has subpoenaed you. The lack of conviction in our politics is what we are seeing now; now if they cannot stand by their own words, how can we believe the promises they make to us? We should understand what we say and stand by them no matter the prevailing circumstances. We should know that whatever comes out of our mouths have dire consequences on the development of this nation. And so, anything we say must be said with a good heart and in truth. We should stand for something or else we shall fall for everything.

Moreover, we must always have the interest of this nation at heart and not satisfy the whims and caprices of some few individuals. Quite often, people do things that bring down the integrity of the nation without contrition just because they belong to a certain political party. The increasing instances of arrogance and insolence usually emanate from the fact that one's party is in power and therefore one can do anything they want with impunity. So far, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) is the only political party which has confirmed that it will not shield any member of the party who comes before the law for wrongfully engaging in acts that seek to subvert the supremacy of the constitution. Indeed, times are changing.

If for instance, Stephen Atubiga’s comments were rubbish, do Ghanaians deserve rubbish? Why did he make them? Did he speak out of conviction or from his stomach? Did he have any regard for his listeners or he was being a mere joker? Did he think Ghana deserves such misguided political loose canons? Probably that is what is being taught from the leadership of his party, but certainly, not from all the leadership of this country and he was put in his proper place by the Supreme Court of the land.

The youth must be interested in TRUTH and INTEGRITY in this country at all times. How do our politicians want us to believe them next time when they tell us, they will build roads, hospitals, schools etc etc? It is all propaganda, and that is evil.

Divine Nkrumah

National Youth Cordinator

Progressive People’s Party

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