Let’s stop the lawlessness

Every now and then I get worried about the kind of future we are building for ourselves. Somewhere last week, I had another reason to. I heard some bold soul making some very interesting remarks on live radio. And that got me worried.

As you may well know, it is almost a seasonal ritual that at the beginning of the tenure of a president, District Chief Executives (DCEs) are appointed all over. These men and women are going to be the President’s representative in the various district. They are miniature presidents. So they matter a lot.

And in just the same way that their appointments matter, so also is the public reactions to such appointment. Usually, protests over all. There are angry exchanges. And in some instances raw punches being thrown about. You find assembly members kicking against the president’s nominee. You find political party operatives raising hell over it.

One of such persons was the guy I heard on radio the other time. It’s a pity I don’t remember his name but he spoke as the leader of a youth association of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Savelugu.

He was essentially spearheading calls for the President to withdraw his nominee for Municipal Chef Executive. His main argument against the appointment of the MCE was that she was not one of them (whatever that meant) and that in spite of all the number of years that she has been around, she has never bothered to associate with them. His case was that nobody can impose her on the municipality.

When asked by the radio show host what he would do if the President does not change his mind, he replied that he and his supporters would go on the rampage and destroy items belonging to the party. All these were said on Friday. I somehow thought of this guy all through the weekend. This guy was convinced that the constitution empowered him to kick against the choice of the president. This bit got me more worried. For there is nothing as scary as someone acting under a mistaken belief.

Then on Tuesday evening, I saw on the news that indeed there were protests in Savelugu just as the guy on radio said there would. Once again this got me worried. He was not bragging. We listened to some guy who claims to be the head of an association threaten to breach the peace. They have carried it out.

As though this is not enough, there were news reports that some persons were engaged in the construction of a private port.  Then I asked myself- how can this be? How long can we actually go? Construction of a port is not child’s play. It is not something that can be hidden under a bed. Work had commenced so much so that according to news reports there were a lot of vessels over there.

This should not happened in 2017. There is no way that this should happened. But guess what it is happening.

The officialdom side of things is even more shocking. In the event where you need proof that people are sleeping on the job, then take a good look at how those placed in the position of responsibility are feigning surprise.

And their excuse is further sweetened by the fact that they had just been appointed. But guess what, civil servants hold the fort in the absence of their political bosses. The expression of surprise is not impressive.

It is only after so much damage and destruction has been done that we see them in action. And this should worry anybody on the face of the earth. Take a look at the question of galamsey. We are in a frenzy tripping and falling over each other just to make the point that we are against the act.

 But the big question then becomes what have we been doing over the years then? Clearly in just the same way that galamsey did not start overnight, so also did the construction works not start overnight.

It is a shame we are shutting the stables after the horses have bolted. But it is not too late. There are still more horses in the stable. We still have some time left. The only way to curb the lawlessness we see all over, is to make the law work. And to make the law work, we know what to do – knock out the political colouration.