Let’s learn from legacies of Mandela — Dicko
The 2012 parliamentary candidate for Atwima Nwabiagya South on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Nuhu Alhassan Dicko, has called on Ghanaians, particularly politicians and heads of institutions, to learn from the legacies of former South African President, Nelson Mandela.
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He said Mandela as an icon of anti-apartheid left legacies of reconciliation, negotiation and forgiveness in spite of the dehumanisation treatment meted out to him by the then White minority, which are worthy of emulation by all.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview at Abuakwa in the Atwima Nwabiagya District, Alhaji Dicko noted that Ghana had achieved a lot on reconciliation and negotiation as a government from military regime, sub-military (Provisional National Defence Council, PNDC) era and constitutional rule since 1992 and has served as a beacon of democracy on the African sub-region but it remained with individual politicians and heads of institutions to learn from the legacies.
Alhaji Dicko thinks there are some individual politicians who are still bitter, desperate to become presidents, ministers of states, parliamentarians among others, and if given the opportunity, they will only revenge their political opponents’ acts. Such politicians, according to Alhaji Dicko, nee to learn from Madiba Nelson Mandela.
Alhaji Dicko, who is also a consultant in inter-development management and diplomacy, recalled that Mandela was arrested in 1962 on the charges of sabotage, as well as other crimes, and was finally sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 by the then Pretoria Supreme Court after he led the ANC’s 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, whose adoption of the Freedom Charter provided the fundamental basis for anti-apartheid campaign.
He said Mandela was offered a conditional release in return for renouncing the struggle against apartheid in 1985 under the administration of the then President P.W. Botha but Mandela replied: “What freedom am I offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free man can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contract”.
He said Mandela could have opted for the conditional release and later plan for revenge but waited for the right time to negotiate and reconcile with the oppressing detractors, a lesson which Ghanaians should emulate.
He further recalled that Mandela spent 27 years in prison, 18 alone in the small Roben Island in Cape Town, where he and other prisoners were engaged in lime quarry with absolute racial segregation, but it was not until 1990 that he was released, supporting reconciliation and negotiation afterwards and helping to lead a transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa with the backing of other anti-apartheid activists.
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He said when Mandela led the ANC to become the first Black President of the land in 1994, he (Mandela) had every right to revenge his oppressors (the White ninority), including a few Black Saboteurs, but he chose to “forgive, negotiate and reconcile” until 1999 when he ascended the throne as president.
He said when Mandela opted for negotiation and reconciliation, he had, since 1994, brought South Africa as a country to greater heights in terms of national development, adding that due to improved standards, South Africa could host the FIFA World Cup in 2010 which is historic in the annals of soccer.
He, however, said Ghanaian individuals, politicians, heads of institutions, including men of God would have opportunities to revenge their opponents’ acts but must endeavour to forgive and reconcile and rather focus on national development to take the country to greater heights in the African sub-region and the global arena as well.
“It is time for revenge but as politicians and leaders of the Ghanaian society, we need to focus on our achievement for the country and for ourselves as individuals,” he stated.
He used the opportunity to express his condolences to the family of Mandela, the people of South Africa, Africa as a continent and the entire world on the demise of former President Nelson Mandela.