...TO ROPAL, CONCERNED GHANAIANS
The whole nation would stand to benefit if the Concerned Ghanaians realized that revolutionary class struggle through mass demonstrations is not the solution to ROPAL but rather evolutionary change through parliamentary process. If the Concerned Ghanaians would agree with me, they would attest to the fact that within the tenets of democracy, the passage of ROPAL was foreseeable and foreseen, predictable and predicted.
What then was left was for them to prepare to become good losers instead of planning parliamentary obstruction. Good Losers accept defeat instead of flouting the rules of the democratic game when they do not have the parliamentary votes to prevail on a particular issue. Even though the minority may have the opportunity to obstruct parliamentary proceedings, once those rights are exhausted, the majority must prevail. I entreat the minority to abide by the rules of the parliamentary process since recurrent and egregious violations of parliamentary procedure have been identified as central to the breakdown of democratic regimes.
In order to prevent further parliamentary obstruction on similar issues in the future, I suggest that Ghana adopts the Japanese concept of ?kokutai politics.? That is, the leaders of each party?s Legal Committee should meet regularly to work out concessions that would allow the smooth passage of legislation in parliament. This should be done prior to the presentation of the bill in parliament. If the concept of ?kokutai politics? is properly implemented in Ghana, I am very optimistic that problems of this nature would not occur in the future.
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