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Opinions of Thursday, 26 April 2012

Columnist: Nkrumah-Agyapong, Kwame

Is Tribalism Enough?

All the rhetorics, actions and divisive comments coming from both NDC and NPP has not disappointed me more than Ghanaians inability to unreservedly condemn and go on demonstration against the prevalent culture of tribalism and nepotism in our society. What did we expect from both parties? Political parties built on tribalism cannot exhibit any other characteristics other than what they are built on.

A little background check on both NDC and NPP will indicate that these parties originated from violence and enjoy their support base by raising unfounded tribal fears and prejudices by pitting tribe against tribe rather than trumpeting the virtues of a unified stable country with all tribes living together in peace and harmony.

The irony of this tribal politics is that the NPP is often quick to accuse the NDC of inciting one tribe against the other, whilst the NDC will often return the complements. Have these two parties paused and reflected on what the Ghanaians think of them? Another mystifying aspect of this is that, each election year Ghanaians continue to vote for these two parties. Previously, the excuse was that the CPP was divided and not organised. Now that the CPP is organised and has refined itself, are the genuine Ghanaians who do not believe in tribal politics vote for CPP? We need to be forceful in our language and tell both NPP and NDC that they are both tribalistic parties and they must be made to understand that extremists and fanatics do not build a nation but nationalism and patriotism does and the CPP represents these attributes. Unless Ghanaians put their tribal affiliation aside and vote for CPP, which represents the only viable and credible alternative, this tribal politics will not stop and would inevitable lead to the potential disintegration of our dear country. Given the recent happenings in Ghana, I wonder what the international and African communities think of us. One may ask, Is a black man capable of managing his own affairs with these barbaric and tribalistic comments coming from the M.P, Kennedy Agyapong and Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye, both parties encouraging the tension by siding with their disgraced men. Any serious nation would have sacked these two men.

If we are killing each other over a mere registration process, what will happen come December when the issue will be the casting and counting of votes? A fragment of these tensions is about oil. These two political parties want their hands on the oil revenue to squander it, period. In the cause of this they are prepared to sacrifice Ghanaian blood to feed bigotry parties. We MUST remind both NPP/NDC to take a quick look at recent events in oil-producing countries to learn a few lessons. If the prophets of doom and the extremists have their way, come December this year, it should not surprise anyone when we learn that our oil-fields have been taken over by the IMPERIALIST armed forces ostensibly here to keep the peace but actually to ensure our oil reaches their countries while we are busy killing each other. Ivory Coast and Libya readily comes to mind. History has a nasty habit of repeating itself. Given this weak and incompetent President, I will not be surprised if he waits for the situation to deteriorate and wait for the NPP to ask for the external assistance. This is not beyond the NPP.

We must stop this tribal politics and speak with patriotic force by voting for CPP. We must put away our unfounded fears and prejudices aside and vote massively for the CPP, the Party that instinctively and consistently represents the very best of all our national aspirations. We have a duty to protect Ghana from NDC/NPP nonsense. Above all, we have the sacred duty, regardless of our tribal origins, to safeguard our distinctive and noble national identity. We are Ghanaians, tribalism is not enough to develop Ghana.

Kwame Nkrumah-Agyapong k.n.agyapong@gmailcom