Political leaders must rein in their supporters

The attacks that have characterised the aftermath of our elections after a change in government must be a source of concern to all.

Since 1993 when the country opted for multi-party democracy, there have always been some skirmishes after our elections, especially when there is a change of government.

This definitely does not augur well for our credentials as the bastion of democracy in the West African sub-region.

We do not see why officials working in the interest of the public must feel intimidated or threatened with the coming in of a new government because they are aligned to a particular political party.

We also do not believe that public officials must fear for their lives or jobs or need to be forcibly removed from post just because there is a new government in place.

The Daily Graphic believes that everyone employed in the public service works with some terms of reference which do not include political party membership.

Public officials are expected to be specialists or technocrats and professionals in their chosen fields who are in office to serve all Ghanaians, irrespective of party affiliation.

However, in the past years public workers have been chased from their offices and officially allocated bungalows just because they are perceived to belong to an opposition political party and not the party in power.

These unfortunate incidents have come to a head, with the two main political parties — the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) — being the guiltiest; taking turns to blame each other in a seeming never-ending cycle.

This is not a healthy practice and we believe that the witch-hunting that follows changes of government must be condemned by all and efforts made to stop it outright.

Indeed, the Daily Graphic has stated on several occasions that nobody is above the law and called on the police and other security agencies to arrest those who arrogate to themselves the power to destroy public property and attack people because they think that their party is in power.

We are of the view, however, that it is time for the leadership of all political parties to jointly and severally condemn the acts and also take steps to stop them once and for all.

The attacks are not healthy for the growth of the public service, as they could eventually culminate in many shying away from offering their services if they realise that there is no future in the public service.

It is time for all of us to really live the well-known maxim that we are one people with a common destiny.

Our national motto enjoins us to promote freedom and justice and attacking one another for political gain is definitely not the way to go.

To the two political parties, we say two wrongs do not make a right and so they should stop organising press conferences to justify the attacks against each other and calling each other names.

In the spirit of the democracy that we all cherish and are trying to institute as the norm of governance, we urge all the parties to rather come together to find a lasting solution to the practice and give the security agencies the free hand to keep law and order, whether we have a continuing government or a change of government.