After years of pretentiousness we now know the United Party (UP) of Ghana and its descendant party, the Narcotic Peddling People (NPP.), is all words and no delivery. Almost eight years and two full-terms in government, one wonders what they have achieved. Having waited for the opportunity they’ve craved since their short-lived stint in power in 1969, the Right of Ghanaian politics has presided over a distinct lack of vision in government and a poverty of aspiration now pervades all aspects of national life. President Kufour is in American at the moment with his four children and a large entourage under the expense of tax payer’s money.
The Narcotic Peddling People (NPP) is in no need of a clairvoyant to tell them to beware of the Ides of March. Rather, what is happening on the NPP front in respect of the bloody internal parliamentary contests is nothing but the completion of a vicious cycle of violence introduced into our political history by the United Party/National Liberation Movement (UP/NLM). Humphrey Tettey Mensah believes in the truism “violence begat violence”. The NPP has just started their stupidity by killing and burning houses, motor bike and cars belonging to NDC guru in Tamale. NPP bring it on…we shall see come December. We are not going to allow these crooks to intimidate us. We are more than prepared.
The naughtiness and political violence being witnessed in the camp of the NPP is high and to the unapprised consummate in a constitutionally democracy. Limbs are being hacked with machetes; heads being smashed with clubs and metal bars; ears being chopped-off with sharp razor; tooth extracted with sheer muscular fist; and eyes being plucked with scissors from their sockets. This is the level of NPP democracy, which defines their rule of law, democratic principles and liberal politics.
The above are just a small fraction of the spate of violence which has characterized the NPP’s brand of democracy and belief in constitutional democracy. As if this is not enough to remind the UP/NLM elements of the need to return to some civility, they have chosen to raise the stakes. Hired assassins are being recruited to kill for dollars just to ensure an entry into the parliamentary contest. And while these monstrous crimes are being committed in the full grimace of the law enforcement agencies, the pro-NPP media front has been as quiet as a cemetery. Of course, this is the kind of politics the NPP leadership with the unspoken support of their opportunistic media wants Ghanaians to embrace. Thank God, it is not the brand of democracy practiced by the NDC otherwise, our ears would have been choked with their inharmonious noises.
Hon. Humphrey Tettey Mensah abhors and totally disagrees with the NPP’s brand of seeking political office through administering poison to one’s opponent. However, these devilish actions should not come as a surprise to astute political analysts with a firm grasp of Ghana political history. For us, history has always been a useful guide into the future even if we are not to be trapped by its destructive parts. There is no doubt Ghana’s political journey has been a blend of pacifist and violent actions.
For those who have read the true account of our political history written by serious academics and scholars, the violence, which has characterized the NPP parliamentary primaries, is just a token of the menu their forebears in the UP/NLM served the peace loving people of Ghana. However, there have been strenuous moves to sweep this distasteful history of the UP/NLM violence under the carpet. For example, Busia, who was reputed to be a patron in black marketeering, is being offered to us today as a political angel. He is projected as a liberalist with a vision. In any case, it is such political demagoguery and false claims to Christian values which sometimes offends our sensibilities.
In spite of this, we see some claimants to the great Osagyefo legacy, who see the UP/NLM/NPP as political bedfellows to wit. They are prepared to sacrifice the Nkrumahist legacy as the foremost African for a mess pottage from the NPP because their breads are being buttered. We insist that the support that such men throw behind the NPP has nothing to do with principle, it is purely for their stomach. We need to reason with them anyway because the stomach has no holiday. Their survival depends on the largesse of Kufuor and his cohorts.
The issue of political violence in Ghana politics has its genesis. The UP/NLM/NPP holds the enviable record of introducing this sadistic form of politics into our national discourse. For our colleagues in the media, who chose to remain silent over the violence which has dogged the NPP parliamentary primaries and the northern Ghana, they are doing the people of Ghana a disservice. The media in a democracy, that is, the liberal democracy the NPP pontificates on has to be a true watchdog. Why are the vociferous critics of the NDC silent? We hope they still have some milk of human kindness towards the people of Ghana as to inform them and promote debate within the political and democratic public sphere in order to instill some civility into the fabric of the NPP.
There is always the garrulous gang whose responsibility is to magnify any insignificant misunderstanding in the NDC. Why is the Television Stations which roll out their mats for them to disparage the NDC not find it democratic to deliberate on the blood which flowed freely at the Bekwai parliamentary primary of the NPP? The media cannot behave like an island unto itself. We cannot be hostages to self-righteousness. Politics and media are bedfellows. The journalist are been bribed ($2,000 a week) by the NPP security apparatus to portray them as angels and the great party NDC as devils. I know the mansions these journalists are building and trust me we will make sure they tell the people of Ghana where they got that colossal amount of money to build those mansions. We owe our obligations to the people of Ghana in whose name we appropriate the name of the Fourth Power, in order to be their watchdogs and not lapdogs. We need to protect our democracy rather than the concerted attempts to erect a defensive wall against self-seeking and corrupt individuals who are just passing through the corridors of power.
Judging from the way and manner blood is flowing ‘waa waa’, only reminds us of the scandalous stories told of the heavy indulgence of some NPP chieftains in occultism and juju. A special aide to the President in the Castle has been mentioned as the superintendent, whose unofficial portfolio is to ensure that the spiritual realm remain firmly in their grip. Of course, this juju aide is a little mind whose educational debilities are compensated for by his devotion to seeking the supernatural to assist the Christian hypocrites.
We have every reason to believe that the way blood is flowing in the NPP, they, seemed to have something up their sleeves. It is our contention that the world is moving very fast in the direction of scientific application to our problems. The problems of poverty, hunger and underdevelopment are better dealt with using modern methods. In the same way, the democratic process has become less encumbered due to the application of information and communication technology.
It is therefore the view of the Hon. Humphrey Tettey Mensah that the NPP aspirants take a cue from the globalised world and adapt to the use of modern methods of seeking democratic mandate instead of planned assassinations, hacking of limbs and gushing of eyes. This brand of democracy betrays the opportunism of the NPP as people interested in their personal self aggrandizement and not the loud claims to serve the citizens of this country.
Parliament, we reckon must not become the conduit to riches but to serve the people through advocacy and the passing of good laws to safeguard their rights and liberties provided for under the 1992 Constitution. Who then can blame the NPP for the high incidence of violence being witnessed at their primaries? We doubt if there is any, because they come from a tradition whose philosophy and ideology is steamed in violence and unbridle thirst for political power through whatever means.
Despite all these negative traits of the UP/NLM/NPP political ideologues, we urge the leadership to strive to bring the contestants to embrace civilized ways of doing things in a multiparty democracy. These calls for some level of discipline and refrain from the usage inflammatory and hot-headed language. Until the national leadership adopts civility through a disciplinary behavior which must been seen to manifest from the top, the limbs, heads, ears, tooth and eyes of the innocent party faithful could not be guaranteed.
Hon. Humphrey Tettey Mensah expects some form of discipline from the NPP leadership. We believe discipline in the NPP would help define our collective identity as a people committed acceptable norms and behavior and our preparedness to use our jaw and brains to debate issues. We reckon that discipline if imbibed by the warlords in the NPP could help mould their character for the betterment of our society as it will constantly assist in regulating their behavior from the seemingly primitive origins to modernity.
EYE ZUZUZA….VOTE NDC FOR A BETTER GHANA.
I WILL ASK AGAIN, “IF GOLD (K4) ROT, WHAT WILL IRON (AKUFFO-ADDO) DO”.
Humphrey Tettey Mensah (booker tee)
htmensah@yahoo.com
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