The virtue of the interior minister...

In a recent article Edwin Appiah of E-Lab opined that the virtue of the knowledgeable cannot be trusted and the knowledge of the virtuous is insufficient. How true?

We just had a bye-election in which we saw lawyers exported Invincible Forces to reinforce militant mobilization of the Bolga Bull Dogs to match their opponents Azoka Boys. And these lawyers saw nothing wrong about the damaging effects of militancy/ political vigilante groups in a peaceful country surrounded by Boko haram, cedi depreciation ,inflation and massive unemployment until they got shots hit at them by the so-called Azoka Boys. Do you trust their virtues? I don't.

But what is most shocking is the response from the interior minister, he said to a newsman about the violence in Talensi :"violence begets violence". Boy! That is grim! The minister must bow his head in shame for stooping so low. For betraying the honourable position he occupies. Is he an MP? I hear most MPs have dishonoured their title--Honourable. His comments smack of a medical doctor endorsing the sales of medicines in Kaneshi bound buses. I don't trust his virtues. He needs to withdraw that statement. We need Ghana to remain in peace and not pieces.

We haven't heard anything from all who matter, especially the President. Neither have we heard any explanation from Nana Addo and their crop of lawyers who prefer to export the terrorist Invincible Forces to the peaceful Talensi land in this times of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups. I am wondering why the police look on and see militant groups like Azoka boys and the rest of them flex their muscles with free abandon.

Worst still is a viral post on Facebook encouraging NPP supporters to arm themselves before 2016. That is unfortunate, because, this is the time for the NPP to rebrand itself as a non-violent party having soiled the tenets of the Danqua-Busia idiology with violence. This is the time for those youths who are advocating for gun violence to stop spitting useless phrases and vocabularies in the name of propaganda and go to the grassroots to speak the voter's language--a language that resonates with all tribes, and classes.

MONEY SHARING

Is there any individual or political party going into elections that doesn't share "goods" in order to woo voters ? How did the NPP's parliamentary primaries end ? At least, we have heard that Kojo Oppong influenced voters with money to win...aloo ? We also heard about a 22year old who delivered a party office to the NPP and also shared money to woo voters. I have also listened to PNC's Bernard Mornah accused both NDC and NPP on City FM of sharing 'goods' even though the NDC has 'incumbency advantage'.

Government's abuse of incumbency is not justifiable but the performance of PNC compared to NPP and PPP shows that the people exercised their own judgement and no one should also lose sight of the fact that Talensi is an NDC Stronghold.

Many voters do not understand the power of the thumb , therefore, give it up for the desires of the stomach. What we need now is a serious civic education; one that will revolutionize the perception of voters towards politicians. And this campaign should not be left on the lap of only the National Commission for Civic Education( NCCE ), Civil Society Organisations should come on board to educate voters. Our politicians are desperate and we only need to educate voters enough to shun bribery and violence in 2016.

Ironically, it is not the politicians who are willing to share money, it is rather the voters who demand, beg and/or threaten that the chance of winning an election depends on how much one pays. Period!

Frederick K. Kofi Tse

(KeliKofi@gmail.com)