Tribal Politics Mr. President?

There have been too many comments on the internet aimed at denigrating one tribe or another. I have often felt very uncomfortable reading them. A time or two, I have made a comment against it. We are all Ghanaians. Kwame Nkrumah’s efforts resulted in each tribe being able to boast of high achieving scholars today. Ghana can have a President from any tribe. This is something that we should be proud of. I therefore find it disgusting to read that President Mahama has singled out Kumasi and declared the people there unappreciative. This has unnecessary tribal connotation.

Politics is politics. There are some who will be appreciative to a fault and there are some who will be unappreciative to a fault. In the middle are reasonable people and I beg to say this group has people from each tribe and I am sure you can find many in Kumasi. Mr. President should know this. Even if he doesn’t know, he should absolutely stay above disparaging tribal remarks. The President’s comment unfortunately legitimizes the tribal comments that I read on the internet.

As they say, you cannot cry over spilled milk. What is said is said. Whatever the damage, it has been done. I wish that the President will be a big man and step back and admit that the comment was uncalled for and apologize for making it. It surely would have been better if the President had not made the comment, but apologizing will go a long way. We have a lot to do to move our country. Tribalism or tribal comments have no place in the office of the President. We need our President to bring us all together or at least make the effort despite our politics and the trash talk on the internet.

I will also take this opportunity to ask my fellow Ghanaians to think first that we are all in this boat together. If the boat sinks, we are in it. It will take all of us to keep the boat afloat. If the Black Stars win, they win for Ghana not any particular tribe. Everyone in the Black Stars, no matter the tribe, is playing for Ghana. We should all play for Ghana. And long live Ghana.

Tony Pobee-Mensah

tpmensahr@yahoo.com