Northerners must tolerate one another – Lecturer

Dr Seidu Alidu, a senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science of the University of Ghana, has emphasized the need for the people of Northern Ghana to tolerate one another for development of their area.

He argued that Northern Ghana was the least developed in the country in all respects and if the people did not resolve to coexist peacefully, they would not see any meaningful development.

Dr Alidu was delivering a lecture on the topic: “Winner Takes All and Political Tolerance in Ghana: The Experience of the Northern Region”. It was organised by the Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC) in partnership with IBIS Ghana, both NGOs in Tamale, on Thursday.

Representatives of political parties, religious bodies, state institutions and civil society organizations attended the lecture.

The objective was to generate discussion not only to effect legislative changes but also create space for citizens’ reflection on the ‘Winner – takes – all system of governance ’and also for participants to take decisions to change their own attitudes to facilitate the development of Northern Ghana.

Dr Alidu, therefore, appealed to especially minority ethnic groups in Northern Ghana to put an end to the pockets of conflicts that had only contributed to the underdevelopment of the area.

He said the “winner - takes – all” system of governance was responsible for some of the unfortunate situations witnessed in Northern Ghana and called on security agencies to enforce the laws without fear or favour.

He also urged governments to promote equal rights and opportunities for all to ensure political tolerance and to ensure the development of Northern Ghana.

Mr Rashid Tanko Computer, Northern Regional Treasurer of the National Democratic Congress, said the country could not depart from the “winner – takes – all” system of governance because the constitution guaranteed that system in the form of institutionalizing multi-party democracy.

Mr Tanko Computer said appointing loyal members of opposition parties to serve in a government would only result in ineffectiveness of the government because such opposition party members who campaigned on different manifestoes could not work to effectively implement the manifesto of the ruling party.

He, however, said there was the need to depoliticize the Public Service and the Civil Service to enable them to effectively play their technocratic roles for the development of the country.

Mr Mohammed Abdul Kudus, Northern Regional Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party, said the Public Services Commission should be empowered to make all appointments to the Public Service without the control from any quarters.

Mr Kudus said such appointees should enjoy security of tenure of office to give them the freedom to work without fear or favour, adding the security services must also be proactive and enforce the laws no matter who was concerned.