“All Die Be Die”? Ghana Needs Cooler Heads!

On August 18, 2009, I issued a Press Statement on the Akwatia bye-election. The essence of that statement was that, “… Ghana needs a Third Force that is a peaceful, purposeful, prosperity-for–the-masses-driven alternative to bring the change we need to this country and her people.” The words of the NPP Flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo in the Eastern Region which included the unfortunate phrase, “…all die be die!” must be examined carefully in the proper context, particularly against the backdrop of what has happened in Ghana in the 4th Republic.

The 1992 elections resulted in a boycott by opposition parties during the Parliamentary part of the elections and those alive at that time know the threats and actions that happened, particularly the references to ethnic affiliation and possibility of violence. In 1996 we heard the threat to go back to 1979 if the opposition won that election. If we fast forward to the 2008 elections, the threat to the security and peace of our country rose to dizzying heights. The blame from what happened then and what is going on is huge enough to go around. Part and an important part of what went on is the arrogant assumption of the NPP and the NDC that Ghanaians have no choice but to rotate power from one or the other and therefore, whatever they do, the people will still choose one of them to form the next government. In the Northern Region, a lot of violent acts went on during the course of the 2008 elections which led to the wanton destruction of personal property and loss of lives. Only the CPP Flagbearer went there to calm the people and bring comfort. Candidate Mills did not go. Candidate Akufo-Addo did not go. President Kufuor did not go either.

Recently, many ‘battles’ between NDC and NPP come to mind to tell all of us that we need to do a careful analysis of the NPP Flagbearer’s words and do something to push our national truck away from the terrifying course it is on. I wrote the following after the Cape Coast Afahye battle between those two political parties:

“Many of the measures taken in the First Republic were to make sure that ethnic or tribal affiliations would be respected but become second to our identity as one people with a common destiny in a nation called Ghana. Our education system helped and so did the CPP Administration’s sharing of factories, schools, roads and other social infrastructure. Ghana was for Ghanaians and we were on the road to becoming a proud people where ethnic origin would be a secondary matter. Tribalism has made its way into our body politic in a way that is offensive and dangerous to our survival as a nation and our collective prosperity is put at risk. We are now coupling insane political partisanship with tribalism and putting it on display during our traditional festivals. Some of our chiefs are kneeling in front of the government of the day to beg for development that is their due. In the process, they sometimes become blind to the fact that they should be there for all of their people not just those who happen to be in power.”

I also wish to recall what we wrote about the conduct of the re-opening of the voters’ register so that we all understand that the activities of the Electoral Commission has also emboldened these two parties to believe that they can get away with any act illegal or not as long as they win power:

“I am at a loss to understand why the EC would schedule the reopening of the voters’ register from June 11th to the 20th during the period of the World Cup. Everybody knows where the attention of the nation is going to be. All eyes and minds will be tuned to South Africa and the games to be played by our Black Stars football team. If these dates remain, then we will be encouraging the usual suspects to attempt to cheat while no one is paying attention.

The EC in announcing the reopening of the voters’ register called on political parties to desist from acts that will disrupt the process. The EC knows what happened the last time the register was opened. It must address its venom at the NDC and the NPP. These two political parties engaged in all manner of activities that should have resulted at the very least in penalties and in some known, specific cases, some people should have faced the law. Some members of these two political parties moved people and indeed steered people to register in polling stations to gain advantage in such aggressive manner that fights broke out and people were injured in the process. No one was brought to face the law. Some leading members of these two parties openly organized minors to register to vote. Nothing was done about it. And now all the EC can do is to “appeal” to them to be of good behavior?

Finally, it is about time that the EC did away with the idea of polling agents. The Commission should test this when it opens the register by preventing political party representatives from going anywhere within 100 meters of the registration center. It must not encourage polling agents or representatives of the political parties to hang around the registration centers. They will only go there to sow conflict. They have no legal powers and cannot prevent anyone from registering. Only EC officials and security personnel should be at the registration centers. If we are able to do this, the idea of “macho men” and others meant to intimidate people during registration and voting periods will reduce and eventually become a thing of the past. It is time the Electoral Commission and the country moved on from just living off past glory some of which has come because we live in a very bad neighborhood in Africa. Yes, we have achieved a good measure of success in the recent past. But we must strive to do better. It is time for change.”

More about the Akwatia bye-election and what was written two years ago:

“Over the past three weeks, the country has been subjected to threats, insults, violence, intimidation, etc. by both NDC and NPP activists. Sometimes, it seemed as if there were no party people in charge. Nothing was heard from the leadership of those two parties and the Administration to calm the fears of our people. A lot of money we do not have was spent to provide heavy security from the army and police. The NDC and the NPP spent a lot of money chasing after the few votes on offer. The airwaves were flooded with activists of the two parties chewing and spitting threats and accusations at each other. All this over what? An election only one side, the NPP had a realistic chance to win. An election involving only six polling stations out of nearly 90 should not have attracted such attention, money and heat. This election had very little at stake except the egos of a few politicians and yet it cost all of us a lot of anxiety and missed opportunities. Those of us who had moved on after last year’s elections to get back to business and the task of developing our country could not work in peace.

During the same period, there was a serious blow against democracy in Africa thrown in Mali and we said nothing. Foreign business interests are cheating our workers and they dare because we would rather have them here than Ghanaians we think could support our political opponents. The banking sector refused more loans to the Ghanaian private sector and no one took notice. The private sector is under stress but no one is talking. We nearly dealt a big blow to the domestic textile industry and our tailors and seamstresses and only a vigilant newspaper came to our rescue. The public sector debt is rising every day and it really appears invisible – it is not posted anywhere the public can see or know what is going on and the media or the analyst on radio or television don’t care or don’t know or both. The fishermen and their women became poorer but the pre-mix matter went away even though the foreign fishing trawlers are causing worse damage to the livelihood of coastal communities. Meetings were held in Europe, America and Asia to divide and share Ghana’s oil assets during the period and we were not there. The young doctors are threatening go-slow action that may spread to other sectors if care is not taken - and who cares? School teachers and parents are wondering what happens to their children as we go from 4 year to 3 year high school and very little practical work is being done to provide explanations.

We need an alternative political movement, a Third Force to – yes – force everyone to pay attention to the real problems and concerns of the people. There is hunger, thirst, unemployment, high utility bills and low quality education. The contractors are not getting paid, so very little infrastructure work is going on. These problems can be solved. But that will not happen when we pay more attention to gaining political advantage than dealing with the problems facing the people. Yes, it is the politics of keeping or wanting power that is the reason why after all the best efforts of the NDC and the NPP we are still where we are!”

The point in all of this is that it is about time that Ghanaians – the media, religious bodies, professional and trade associations, etc – all take our political leaders to task for their utterances. The NPP Flagbearer’s words were ill-chosen no matter the audience or the occasion. The responses coming from the NDC are also throwing caution to the wind with name-calling that will raise the temperature and cause further noise-making at the very least. At the same time, we must all ensure that all political leaders discipline their thoughts, actions and speech. When politicians deliberately call their opponents murderers, thieves, corrupt, immoral etc without proof, they must be taken to task. When candidate make promises about to win popular appeal, they must be taken to task. Finally, a lot of responsibility is also resting on the police administration to take steps quickly to caution, advise and when laws are broken to prosecute those bent on destroying the peace and security of this nation. What we do now will save us a lot come 2012.

All die be die? No!

Papa Kwesi Nduom

February 10, 2011