Coming events cast their shadows

Somewhere in the Eastern Region, human blood has been spilled in the name of Election 2024.

The earth has drunk the blood of enthusiastic but (mostly) underprivileged, poverty-stricken supporters of the two major political parties of Ghana, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The event happened at Asesewa. Equipment to be used on the District Road Improvement Project had arrived and the two parties could not agree on where to park them.

A radio report said that a key party official received a cut on the head. On television, my tummy churned at the sight of blood – his blood.

If you ask me, I saw this coming, and for me it is an ominous sign of evil ahead as the campaigns reach a crescendo and the two major parties get more and more intolerant, more devious, more devilish and more deceitful.  

All because, there is no neutral force in Ghana with enough coercive power to deter the power-hungry from opening their mouths to pour out incendiarism; party bigwigs who are either heavily protected by their money or have access to macho men with frightening muscles, politicians with visa-stamped passports in their pockets plus enough money to buy instant tickets to fly away from danger.

Which force with enough deterrence has as much as reprimanded Byran Acheampong of the NPP or James Agbey of the NDC for the highly provocative statements they have made? What did the police do to Hawa Koomson when she confessed to discharging her gun in public in 2020?

Hear Bryan Acheampong on April 8, 2023 at an NPP rally at Mpraeso: “It will never happen that we, the NPP will stand on a platform to hand over power to the NDC.”

His August 10 boast is even more frightening: “Whichever means we will use to win the 2024 Elections, we will use it”. James Agbey is on record as declaring that “NPP doesn’t have a single brave man; in contrast, NDC is full of brave men” is an invitation to war.

Elsewhere, in a country that does not fear blood, these statements would cost countless lives. We are taking advantage of this undeserved favour (Christians call it grace).

Either that or we do not care what happens to the mass of followers who are stupid enough to offer their bodies to be beaten on behalf of people whose stomachs are bulging, who have visas and ticket money for the next available flight out of Ghana when angry people start cutting hands and heads.

Incidentally, and sadly, there is no one and nobody to call the two major combatants to order. Today, our moral leaders are either being fed by the ruling parties or have joined the crowd of greedy hopefuls, eyeing future positions and favour.
 

Kudos

Kudos to the Catholic Bishops; they have a tradition of fearing no earthly king, President or ruler. They may not be rich and they are no angels, but they refuse to be actuated by fear or hopes of favour.

Remember PNDC Law 221, also known as the Religious Bodies Registration Law issued by the fearsome Rawlings 1989 requiring religious bodies to register? 

I remember the indecent haste with which many so-termed charismatic churches rushed to register. Only the Catholic church in Ghana, joined later by the Christian Council, openly and loudly defied the order.

In the tumult in Ghana, our last hope should have been the media and civil society groups. Unfortunately, while the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) can be trusted to be neutral, many of the media organisations have taken sides and become loudspeakers or print billboards for the political parties. 

Peace pact

Perhaps the NDC has not helped matters by openly and loudly refusing to sign a Peace Pact, but I think that the party cannot be faulted. As a nation, our collective action of silence over the Election 2020 killing of five citizens, the government’s total inaction and its White Paper on the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission Report, have led to the present situation where the NDC, for instance, is presenting conditionalities.

To condemn the party’s stance is like poking a finger close to my eyes and condemning me for blinking, or squeezing the scrotum of a man and lashing him for yelling, “ouch!”

I have never sided with Mr Asiedu Nketia, NDC Chairman, on any issue. For once, however, he is making a statement that is difficult to refute. On the Peace Pact, he says, “Signing or not signing is not the issue. What we need to address are the building blocks that lead to violence.” And that’s the truth.  

My stand is shared by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Sharing the concerns of the NDC about the peace pact their president, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, cited, for instance, the Electoral Commission and the missing Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) and commented, “It doesn’t cost us any harm (for the EC) to tell us, hey, this is where we have reached. We are going this way, the investigation is still ongoing, but this is what we have done.”

Nobody loves peace better than I do, but how do I put my signature on paper and make open commitments to peace when the country has proved that the so-called Peace Pact is a mere paper tiger?

In the Asesewa incident referred to above, we thank God that no life was lost. This is what everybody kept saying about Liberia – “only a small incident; nobody died” – until the most peaceful country in Africa exploded in war from 1999 to 2003.

Coming events cast their shadows. The Asesewa violence is that shadow. 

The writer is Executive Director,
Centre for Communication and Culture.
E-mail: ashonenimil@gmail.com