By Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo
Attorney and Counselor at Law
There is a secret recording doing the rounds of town which has captured the imagination of the general public. This recording has the voice of Mr. Osafo Marfo lamenting to a group of NPP supporters in the Eastern Region that the Akan areas in Ghana produce over ninety per cent of the resources of the country and yet leadership is in the hands of the minority of the citizens whose regions produce the meagre ten percent. Naturally, this statement has been construed as ethnocentric and has been roundly condemned by all right-thinking people. If any statement is made to impugn the integrity or unity of the country, it ought to attract the calumny of all honest citizens. And so must it be with the unfortunate statement made by Mr. Osafo Marfo.
But the question remaining is how many of those condemning Osafo Marfo’s lament truly have the essential unity of the nation in mind when they shout their condemnation on top of the roofs? Isn’t it the case that their criticism emanates from the sanctum of political opportunism, hypocrisy and sheer subterfuge? It is all about the innermost principles which we carry around and which defines our character and predilections as a people. In the deepest recesses of our hearts, where do we really stand on the question of ethnocentrism if we are confronted with it? Are we committed to its expiation from our society or just using it as an effective propaganda tool to divert the attention of the country and to divide it for our parochial political goals? Is it the case that when we condemn Osafo Marfo, we are seeking to uphold the society’s ethos and mores and the oneness and the indivisibility of our country? If it is the latter, then available evidence should demonstrate a long pattern of apprehension shown against similar statements made by people on both sides of the political divide. Our concerns would then be properly construed as a genuine continuation of a noble cause to ensure that our nation and people are deemed to be one country and one people with a common destiny. And the trend of our criticism would then be uniform, coequal, balanced and just. Moreover, the notion would not have been so widespread that any individual making ethnocentric statements speaks for a whole party or people or faction. Rather, people who are deemed to have contravened the underlying principles of national unity would have been singularly condemned as erring individuals who must be appropriately sanctioned.
But the political trend has not always been that straightforward and clear-cut, looking at how glibly opposing members of the political divide have always rallied to dissemble statements that have appeared to be against the sanctity of our national unity. In effect, morbid statements negatively impinging on social cohesion have been either down-played or rehashed or massaged when it comes from a friendly camp. And where similar statements are made from adversarial camp, the strident cacophony of condemnation has been blown to all extraordinary proportions. That is why the present angst demonstrated against the statement made by Osafo Marfo ought to be viewed as sheer political gimmick by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). And that is why discerning individuals ought not to fall for their trick!
The whole recorded incident ought to be viewed in the context of our political reality. Since independence, this country has been fed on political chicanery. Our people have viewed politics as a means of enriching themselves and not as a way to achieve the ultimate good for our people. And for such a leadership cabal like the NDC, national welfare is not a primary consideration but rather the type of survivalist politicking which will ensure that they forever maintain their hold on power. They begin by amassing wealth and exploiting their positions to benefit their families and cronies until they realize that getting to the time of accountability, they will have nothing to show to the people by way of their achievements and stewardship. What they fall upon then is the diversionary tactics offered by unguarded statements and actions which the likes of Osafo Marfo may make. Then they latch on to this to play on already existing tribal sentiments to divide the country and to rule the country.
And that is exactly what is happening in these circumstances. Corruption under this government has reached megalithic proportions, and officials of the government have been implicated in high level malfeasance that could even have some ramifications for national security. In addition, unprecedented borrowing and high incomes from Ghana’s oil resources and exports have been dissipated in a wanton display of fiscal indiscipline hitherto unprecedented in our country’s history. As a result, the nation has nothing to show for either its external loans or its gross domestic product. Infrastructure have collapsed everywhere and simple electricity generation has not been accomplished to drive industry or afford the people any comfort. And it is in the background of this national ennui that Osafo Marfo went to Koforidua to throw these nation wreckers a bone. So like houseflies on to human excrement, these parasites have congregated around to celebrate a feast of solid waste. Much in their character, they see this as a rare opportunity to play the ethnic card and to cover up the real national problems confronting us. And as we speak, they have a section of their supporters stridently pointing accusing fingers to other sections as the culprits of ethnocentrism. And under these circumstances, the question is who the real tribalists are? Aren’t these those who generically ascribe a common habit to others and describe what these others think and feel about other Ghanaians? Aren’t these those exploiting the ethnic fault lines and over-milking them to their maximum advantage? And aren’t these those with a penchant to gloss over patent tribal insults from their camp while scrutinizing every word from their opponents and blowing it out of proportion in the crucible of ethnocentric prejudice?
We should not be fooled; those condemning Osafo Marfo don’t really care so much about our national cohesion but rather about the division of the country for political domination. They want the conversation to shift away from their arrant ineptitude to an unfortunate comment by a party member that has nothing to do with the policy or politics of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and they will go to the greatest extent to associate the whole party with a single member’s faux paux in order to gain cheap political advantage. And this strategy begins by calling on everybody to apologize for an individual’s unfortunate statement. And here is where many of the party’s gurus are likely to fall prey. Such calls should be viewed for what it really is: a skewed artistry concocted to throw a blanket on the real issues.
We must be real and understand that no matter our good intentions, we could sometimes sound completely idiotic, and that is all about being human. Nobody can claim that he or she has never made a stupid statement in his or her life for which he regrets. I know I cannot! It is not fair to describe a man’s character by a single statement or action. If Osafo Marfo were indeed ethnocentric, his long political resume would have reflected this weakness a long time ago. And the man’s character as a Ghanaian patriot wouldn’t now be assessed on account of a single speech. Ethnocentric citizens show abundance of evidence for their dark intentions all the time and Osafo Marfo is not ethnocentric. Like the wisest people on earth, he just misspoke, and his words shouldn’t be construed beyond his personal frustrations and anger at what he individually perceives as an injustice. We must forgive him and move on instead of making a mountain out of a molehill and thereby missing the real issues at stake.
And we must focus on the legitimate and properly enumerated policies of the NPP to resolve the huge and intractable problems presently bedeviling our country. Those who genuinely love Ghana would discern the huge deception going on here, and would not be paying any attention to the cacophony of the NDC propaganda machinery. In the coming days, they will churn out doomsday predictions and fantastic demands on the NPP based on a comment for which their leadership is similarly known. Yet we must keep our eyes on the goal of national reconstruction for the sake of ourselves and our children. If we do, we would have snatched the conversation away from vacuous eavesdropping gossip to the salient issues facing the nation. And the NDC will stop taking us for fools whose focus could easily be diverted by simple antics and commonplace subterfuge.
Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Doctor of Laws, is a general legal practitioner resident in the city of Austin, Texas. You can email him at sarfoadjei@yahoo.com
