Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh: Returning to Talensi
Dr Martin Luther King has noted that “the true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience, but how he stands in times of controversy and challenges.”
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That is how all well-meaning Ghanaians expect our political leaders would relate to the needless and avoidable violence that characterised the Talensi Constituency by-election.
This has informed people who have condemned the unfortunate remarks by the Minister for the Interior, Mr Mark Woyongo, that “violence begets violence,” meaning that supporters of the New Patriotic Party attacked activists of the National Democratic Congress who justifiably defended themselves.
He has gone ahead to defend his comment by comparing it to a statement by Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo that “all die be die,” a comment which attracted the ire of many Ghanaians and used to describe him as a war monger. I do not think that Mr Woyongo wants a similar dysfunctional sobriquet.
Such comments give motivation to party activists to act with impunity knowing that their party structures will be behind them, especially if their party is in government.
Mr Woyongo should not thus justify his statement and flaunt it because it was in bad taste. As our elders have noted, every animal runs but when the cow runs it is taken for madness.
If any fatality had occurred, Mr Woyongo would not have had the peace of mind to make such comments, in the face of those bestial and dastardly acts.
It becomes imperative that those who make allegations tell us some truths to enable us to sympathise with them.
The Akans say that when one person observes a development, it becomes difficult to call a witness. In the case of Talensi, the NDC and NPP gave different accounts, each claiming that the other unleashed thugs on their innocent supporters.
The NPP account narrated by Mr Freddie Blay, First National Vice-Chairman of the party, said they were accosted and violently driven away by the Azorka Boys as they monitored the voting processes. He indicated that two of their members were injured and sent to Bolgatanga for treatment. He said when they met Mr Woyongo, they exchanged pleasantries.
The NDC, led by Mr Koku Anyidoho, Deputy General Secretary, said their members were attacked by NPP supporters who had blocked the main Tongo Road around the party’s constituency office.
They paraded two victims of the thuggery. They said Sofo Azorka, the Northern Regional Chairman of the party, and his group were nowhere in Talensi and suggested that a rival NPP group was responsible for the attack on Mr Blay.
In an interview granted to Citi FM, Sofo Azorka admitted being in Talensi and that to counter an attempt by the NPP to bribe voters and tarnish the image of the NDC, he organised his boys to stop and drive away the NPP supporters.
There are a number of issues that the National Peace Council must interrogate in the interest of justice and peace.
The Electoral Commission must equally take up some of the matters at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee meetings. Some of the issues are whether or not it was worth the thousands of supporters of the political parties who were moved to Talensi; whether or not it was fair and just for the NDC to organise house-to-house medical screening at Talensi a day before voting, when campaigns had ended the day before? Did the NPP openly share money at polling stations? Who gave Azorka Boys the responsibility of enforcing electoral regulations?
How do we get the assurance that those supposedly arrested were the ones involved in the crimes and how would justice be exacted if the Minister of the Interior holds the view that one group attacked the other who defended themselves in line with natural justice?
Long ago as the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission, one of the members told me that if you want to establish deviants who cause electoral violence, observe who gets prosecuted.
He explained that those who get prosecuted belong to the wrong party, meaning the party not forming the government.
How do we get out of such perception when everyday criminals, involved in political and electoral violence, including those who had destroyed public property from 1993-2001, 2001-2009 and since 2009, have never been prosecuted?
In all humility, Mr Woyongo will win the trust and confidence of Ghanaians if he accepts that his comments were inappropriate and apologises rather than rationalise and defend them. He is the Minister of the Interior.
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