Young Professionals in Canada on elections

THE UK, USA MUST ESCHEW HYPOCRICY TO AVERT DEEPER CRISIS IN GHANA

Toronto, Canada, Jan 1— Ghanaian Young Professionals in Canada, are calling on western nations, especially the United Kingdom and the United States to call the ruling NPP government to order.

The Political Crisis in Ghana is about to take a new dimension capable of throwing that country into serious chaos, if not averted.

We are fully aware of the fact that the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, came to Ghana during the 28 December run-off election. Since the day of election, she was only able to criticise the contesting parties for spreading rumours. Interestingly, the United States has not come out publicly to put pressure on the ruling NPP to respect the will of the people and stop the various psychological political games that are putting the millions of Ghanaian people through anxiety and panic. The other western powers—especially the United Kingdom, Germany and France—are unusually mum about the looming political crisis in a beautiful country like Ghana. It is a known fact that these same western powers have watched Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni cling on to power in the face of serious human rights abuses such as violent crackdowns on political opponents in the last two Ugandan Elections. Ghanaians will never forgive the United Kingdom and the USA if they intentionally or unintentionally sit on the fence while this crisis grows from bad to worse. Afterall, these same western nations supported the NPP government through non-governmental organizations in the year 2000—all in the name of democracy. The same people supported dictators like Mobutu Sese Seko and Gnassingbe Eyadema. The public silence of the international community in the face of growing NPP attempts to subvert the will of the people raises serious questions about how responsible they are.

We therefore call on the western powers, mainly the United Kingdom and the United States to eschew hypocrisy and bring pressure to bear on the NPP government to stop its desperate attempts to illegally influence the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election. As we have witnessed in other African countries like Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe, there is a thin line between political crisis and violent bloodshed.

It is time to act now to prevent civil unrest. It is time to say enough is enough!

Ghanaian Young Professionals in Canada