This year, I attended the People’s Assembly held in Sunyani and was really impressed at the intense freedom of speech which prevailed and which allowed all those who had the opportunity to ask questions, do so without fear. Whilst some people (in my opinion) asked questions and made suggestions to promote the welfare of the country, others, it was obvious, came there solely with the motive of causing mischief and confusion.
A classic example is Dr. Asem Foforo. I am compelled to touch on this man because I watched him live, at the People’s Assembly held in Cape Coast. There, this man stated that he had taken his wife to the hospital to deliver and despite the wife being covered by the NHIS, he had to spend over sixteen million cedis (¢16,000.000) on medical expenses. This later turned out to be a blatant lie. Something he later confessed to on radio. At this year’s People’s Assembly held in Sunyani, Dr. Asem Foforo was at it again, making comments to suggest that the NPP government is engaged in witch-hunting by sending Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings to court instead of being ever grateful to Jerry Rawlings for bringing the NPP to power. He went further to rain all forms of insults on President Kufuor some of which are unprintable. His comments really angered some of the people present at the event.
Witnessing the whole event first hand, it is worth stating that no government official or any member of the security apparatus present heckled Asem Foforo; The Minister of Information and National Orientation at no point in time ordered Asem Foforo’s arrest. Indeed when some people, angered by Asem Foforo’s comments tried to heckle him, the Minister of Information called for calm and tolerance and asked that people be allowed to air their views freely as that is what democracy is about. The security personnel also protected him from the few disgruntled people around. Asem Foforo in his quest to dramatize the whole issue whilst being led out sat on the floor inside the hall trying to give the impression that he was being harassed. These are the facts and cannot be disputed.
From my point of view and I believe all discerning people at the function and even those who watched it live on TV, Asem Foforo came to the event with the sole, selfish intention to cause confusion at the function. He did not think for a second that by his action he will be denying well-intended people the opportunity to put their concerns before the President. Let us not forget that Asem Foforo is an ardent supporter of the NDC, the violence-prone party. For me Dr. Asem was at the event to fan confusion and possible violence at the event; but he failed woefully. Why? Because the NPP is a peace-loving, democracy-cherishing party, in government.
It is most unfortunate that some Ghanaians are quick to forget where we have come from. Have we soon forgotten the period of the Culture of Silence; the criminal libel law and the many other tools that were used in the (PNDC/NDC) era to infringe upon our freedom of expression?
I will conclude my advising my fellow Ghanaians especially selfish and myopic ones like Dr. Asem Foforo. We have really come a long way in nurturing our embryonic democracy. Let’s not act in ways or make comments that will undermine what has taken us so long to strengthen. Let us respect and cherish the democracy that we are enjoying today. IF WE ABUSE IT, WE WILL LOOSE IT!!
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