Mr. High Commissioner’s gaffe; a stimulant for party vigilantism

There is too much lawlessness in this country. This compelled the president to openly express his disapproval on the current misconduct of party youth seeking employment.

Trending on the airwaves for some time now is the locking of horns with the law enforcement agencies by party vigilante groups. Members of vigilante groups are emboldened to free a suspect by beseeching a police station. The youth are up in arms against occupants of public offices. Their needs must be satisfied. Their concerns must be addressed and their bellies must be filled, whichever way possible, whether through legal means or otherwise.

The country is gradually becoming a republic where laws subsist but not applied. And the tragedy is that, the political group under whose name these hoodlums operate has seemingly run out of eyes and ears to see and hear respectively, conceivably, the service of an ophthalmologist and an audiologist is urgently needed.

Almost every well-meaning Ghanaian became worried owing to the fact that lawlessness is on the verge of reaching its crescendo. They are proposing solutions to this unfortunate problem, only for them to have their attentions diverted by the public utterance of a diplomat who supposed to know good and bad.

I listened to a tape where Ghana’s high commissioner to south Africa, His Excellency George-Ayisi Boateng, state in univocal terms, his resolve and puissance to consider NPP loyalists first when giving out employment opportunities to the jobless. This he said was how he chose to represent Ghana in south Africa as a diplomat whose monthly salary is charged on the public purse. In his view as a megalomaniac and a party lover, this will help the party to be in power till the second coming of Jesus Christ. Also to be taken as a role model, he urged his colleague appointees to imitate him wholly.

I think the number of microphones thrust onto his face on that TESCON program is the cause of this irresponsible and shameless talk otherwise this is a talk for the serial caller. You are expected to establish and maintain the existing rapport between the embassy and the Ghanaian community. The 1992 republican constitution expects of you to treat everyone equally, regardless, the race of the person, tribe or whether he is a grandson of Danquah or a granddaughter of Rawlings.

This sort of pronouncements has the propensity to tear the nation apart. It gives the go ahead to a vigilante group to do everything to help a party win power because he will be given preferential treatment when seeking a job. One may not be wrong to say that he was right just because he might have decided to toe the line of the previous administrations. You can equally say that he was brave, truthful and gutsy, however, this still supposed to be a conversation with Mrs. Ayisi Boateng, his wife.

It is not meant for public consumption as it can spark so much hatred against himself and his party. He forgot that floating voters are mostly the ones propelling political parties to victories at the polls. The NPP must be aware that Mr. George Ayisi is a big threat to the party’s electoral fortunes in 2020. They must also be aware that he has armed their opponents with a campaign tool and the Sword of Damocles of this must be highly expected at the right time. But wait, should I blame the high commissioner? You may recall the similar unfortunate comments by a regional YEA boss in the Northern Region, one Mr. Sulley Salifu. Mr. Ayisi was encouraged to speak same way because same illogical speech had existed before.

The comments of the high commissioner are condemnable and must be treated with all the contempt it deserves. He is a leader and so must always speak as one. He must know that he is paid with our taxes and not the party funds at asylum down. When I hear comments like this, I am force to hastily conclude that Ghana has leadership crisis. Leaders who lack political will.

Leaders who are always in a state of quandary in matters like this. A punishment of equal measure will not be exacted to Mr. Ayisi for this diplomatic goof. The political party of which he sought to represent, and of whose interest must reign supreme over national interest, will not even issue a one-paragraphed statement condemning same in no uncertain terms. It is totally uncalled-for in a country that hopes to leapfrogs her peers in all aspects of development in this regime of change. I would not waste precious time calling for his removal from office as it is highly impossible like the shoving of the toothpaste back into its tube. But one thing is unambiguous and uncontestable: Political power is not always a bed of roses.

Political parties come and go. We were promised change, as you maybe already aware, the politician is an excellent preacher of virtue and a worst practitioner of vice, particularly the politician under this sun.

The writer is an angry Student Studying BSc. Computing-With-Accounting at UDS, Navrongo campus.