EDITORIAL: Good One There, Oquaye

One of the NPP Presidential candidates, Prof. Mike Oquaye has been quoted by the Daily Dispatch Newspaper as saying that he will not play the ethnic card in his quest to become the President of Ghana. "I don't look at issues on tribal lines. I look at issues and principles, such as what can be done about the country's agriculture and health", he was quoted as saying.

It is an undeniable fact that most of the ethnic and religious wars that have plagued the African Continent have occurred as a result of misguided statements emanating from our statesmen in an attempt to play one ethnic or religious group against the other. As a result, women and children have become foreigners in their own lands by moving from place to place in search for security.

We can make mention of Rwanda, Congo (DR), and Central Africa Republic where ethnic wars have caused more harm than good to our Continent. With this on our minds, nobody expected The Ivory Coast to move in the same direction but our politicians who always want to pander to their parochial interests made it happen. In the end The Ivory Coast is no more enjoying the peace it once enjoyed.

It is in the light of this that we welcome Mike Oquaye's pronouncement that he would not play ethnic cards. We believe that he is not the only one who thinks this way but all the other politicians we have in this country, both in government and opposition, share the same view. Ghana is the only country in West Africa that has not suffered any ethnic or religious disturbances. We as a country should be proud of this.

We should however take note that it could take just one unguided word or statement from a politician to destroy this laudable achievement. We are therefore appealing to our politicians to weigh the import of their speeches before going public with it at all times. Making certain decisions to achieve political objectives but which could only set the country ablaze must be avoided. It is only in Ghana that all the ethnic and religious groups move together without any rancour and we must strive to maintain that feat.

Once again we want to thank Prof. Mike Oquaye for making such a public statement and we hope that he would not go underground and do certain things especially in the heat of the NPP presidential race that might be contrary to what he himself has publicly stated. We would also like to appeal to the general public to stop comments that because a politician comes from one particular ethnic or religious group his assistance should also come from different one. We may be on the path to disintegration immediately we start doing that therefore the earlier we stopped, the better.