The Serious Threat of Zongoizing Ghanaian Politics.do

Some time ago, I earnestly and kindly advised another ideological fellow traveler of Dr. Edward Nasigri Mahama, of the so-called People’s National Convention (PNC), by the name of Dr. Edmund Delle, to concentrate his energy on his professional practice of dermatology and leave the epic business of national politics for those with flair and proven skills for it. God knows there are more than enough treatable skin diseases to last Dr. Mahama and his ilk at least ten lifetimes. More significantly, though, my advice had to do with the fact that almost any moment that the three-time presidential candidate for the PNC opens his mouth to make what he deems to be an important political observation, Dr. Mahama ends up making utter and unpardonable nuisance of himself.

Curiously enough, the PNC presidential candidate claims that his three abortive runs for the presidency add up to a rich preparatory presidential experience. Sounds like Messrs. Rawlings and Atta-Mills to me. More importantly, though, perhaps, some good citizen ought to point out to Dr. Mahama that a thrice-rejected presidential candidate is a junked one. And it must beat the creative imagination of every well-meaning Ghanaian citizen as to why Dr. Mahama would persist with such stolidly gross misreading of the will of the Ghanaian electorate, as to make one wonder whether, indeed, the vaulting presidential ambition of people like the PNC candidate has anything, whatsoever, to do with the solemn and inviolable business of dedicated and selfless national service.


In the latest of such faux-pas, the renowned dermatologist also claims that “Ghana needs a coalition government[al] [system] to defuse the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress’ antagonism which is moving the country nowhere” (Ghanaweb.com 12/31/07).


Just exactly when did the PNC presidential candidate come to his preceding realization? And why has he tarried this long before issuing his rather pontifical call for a coalition government?


Needless to say, perhaps some forthright person needs to advise the Nkrumah-leaning dermatologist to take an introductory course in political science before presuming to lecture the Ghanaian electorate on the best political culture worth pursuing. For where has Dr. Mahama been all the while that the country’s political landscape has been dominated by the ruling New Patriotic Party and the so-called National Democratic Congress, with the other eight or so political parties loudly and passively looking on from the margins? And just how does Dr. Mahama, all of a sudden, come up with such cognitive hot air as, for instance, that “it is clear that none of the dominant political parties can win outright in the 2008 December elections without support from the other parties? Intriguingly, the PNC flagbearer does not seem to appreciate the basic necessity of supplying his audience with tangible, statistical evidence to prove his implicit assertion that Election 2008 would be the very first time that Ghana’s Electoral Commission would be scheduling a presidential runoff?


And just how does the “political dermatologist” come by the notion of Ghana attempting to copycat the functional modalities of coalition government systems of such democratically advanced, albeit not necessarily stable, governments as Germany and Israel? You see, a half-century after unimaginatively experimenting with such alien forms of governance as stratocracy and pseudo-socialism, Ghanaians would rather look forward to the advent of leaders who recognize the indigenous democratic genius of their countrymen and women, not power-hungry dermatologists on the vainglorious lookout for a post-professional hobby. That kind of nonsense belongs to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

There is one eerily creeping aspect of Ghanaian politics which Dr. Mahama seems to share with some of the major Ghanaian politicians; and it is the cynical sickness of invoking the scattered pockets of Zongo communities across the country as a decisive factor in electoral outcomes. And here, it becomes absolutely necessary, and without prejudice, to point out the fact that historically, Zongo communities are immigrant communities and economically “parasitic” in nature. The foregoing observation is in no way intended to either deprecate or overlook the quite remarkable contributions of Zongo communities to the socioeconomic development of Ghana. Rather, our uncontestable contention is that Zongo communities, at least in recent times, arose in exactly the same manner as moths are attracted to night light. In other words, we have Zongos because these Zongo residents, largely non-indigenous, have been attracted to the relatively more ample opportunities available within the host, or indigenous, communities. Thus the cynical attempt being made by some Ghanaian politicians to turn these immigrants against their hosts is likely to provoke serious incidents of violence in the near future, if care is not taken.


But, perhaps, more significantly, Ghana’s Electoral Commission and our National Assembly would have to revisit the crucial question of “citizenship” in such traditional society as Ghana. Defining citizenship merely by birth, as is routinely done in the postindustrial West, may not offer indigenous Ghanaians the protective measures needed to adequately safeguard the preservation of indigenous Ghanaian cultures in the long haul. Already, many of us, particularly those of us resident in the Diaspora, are alarmed by the phenomenal and skyrocketing spate of violent crimes experienced by our countrymen and women in recent times. And, needless to say, many of us were elated to learn, quite recently, that, finally, the Government has decided to deploy a substantial portion of our Armed Forces for national security detail.


Those of us with relevant travel experience fully appreciate the fact that the level and nature of criminal activities taking place in the country presently are patently un-Ghanaian. Part of this malaise, however unintended, may yet stem from Ghana’s exuberant and idealistic attitude towards the otherwise progressive and salutary West African Community project (ECOWAS). In essence, while it cannot be gainsaid the fact of strength inhering in unity, nonetheless, the age-old Akan maxim that: “The crab lost its head as a result of excessive, or inordinate, penchant for friendship,” still holds valid in our time.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is the author of “Sounds of Sirens: Essays in African Politics and Culture” (iUniverse.com, 2004). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@aol.com.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.