Be guided by utterances that build us up

Every election year comes with tension on the political front, with the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), being at the epicentre.

The opposition often accuses the ruling party of being in bed with the Electoral Commission (EC), the referee, to rig or do things that will favour the incumbent government.

But we have come far in Ghana’s Fourth Republican democratic dispensation to still warrant such suspicions.

If for nothing at all, in the past 27 years we have witnessed changes in government from a ruling party to the opposition on not less than three occasions — the NDC handed over power to the NPP in 2000; the NPP handed over power to the NDC in 2008, which in turn handed over power back to the NPP in 2016.

The Daily Graphic believes that having come thus far, the accusations and counter-accusations, suspicions and tension should be subsiding by now. We are convinced that Ghana has reached a point in its democratic journey where elections should be seen as normal activities that should not warrant the level of anxiety and tension that go with them.

It is in this vein that, once again, we shift attention to efforts being made to ensure free, fair, smooth and transparent elections.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, on many occasions, trumpeted his commitment towards successful elections, come December 7, 2020.

Similarly, a statement issued by the Communications Directorate of the NDC, which we published on our front page last Thursday, said former President John Dramani Mahama had a clean conscience towards the upcoming elections and would not do anything to frustrate the process.

Going by what the President has said and the statement issued by the NDC communication directorate, we have a feeling that our two biggest political parties ultimately have goodwill towards the December polls.

Nevertheless, while we inch closer and closer to the polls, the Daily Graphic thinks that the utterances of our political leaders or public office holders should always inspire Ghanaians to do right unto society.

This practice, we believe, will trickle down to their followers at the grass roots, such that the country will be at peace with itself.

National elections must definitely not be seen to be acts of war but healthy engagements over which policy options are best for the development of the country.

Many a time, it is the followers of political parties who begin the trouble, having listened to their leaders pour vituperations on campaign platforms, on radio and on social media.

What these followers do not know is that the big-shot politicians are the best of friends away from the political platform. We even have family members who belong to different political parties, and we should not expect that they will fight or kill each other just because of elections.

The Daily Graphic is convinced that Ghana has come far in its democratic journey to become the beacon of hope in Africa.

But this credential could be lost if we allow our loose utterances to set us against one another. We must be mindful of what we say, where we say it and to whom we say it, so as to preserve the peace of the country.

The Daily Graphic wishes to refer Ghanaians to Ephesians 4:29, which admonishes us to be guided by utterances that build us up, and also Proverbs 13:3: “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips come to ruin."

These should serve to guide us all to be measured in our words, not only during the electioneering but also in every facet of lives.