May I use this medium to congratulate you, Nana, for the orderly manner you and the rest of the presidential candidates conducted yourselves in the just-ended elections. Taking part in and going through elections in Ghana and similar developing countries are not easy. So when you do that and do it successfully as it has finally happened in Ghana, then you deserve a pat on your shoulders. I also congratulate the entire NPP for helping to resolve the impasse that arose from the party’s complaints about the conduct of the elections in the Volta Region by withdrawing the legal challenges that the party had filed at the High Court and, by so doing, paving the way for the EC to announce the final results. Well done to all of you.

I now wish to advise you, Nana, and the entire NPP to drop any intention to continue with the legal challenges which you may still want to pursue, even after the President-elect has been sworn in. I DO AGREE, AS I HAVE SAID EARLIER IN PIECES OF COMMENTS THAT I HAVE MADE CONCERNING THESE ELECTIONS, THAT ETHNICITY IS A MAJOR PROBLEM IN GHANA THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DERAIL GHANA’S DEMOCRATIC PROCESS AND EVEN PLUNGE THE COUNTRY INTO SOME POSSIBLE FUTURE CIVIL CONFLICT. But then it is the whole nation that needs to work later as a team to find the best way to tackle this problem of ethnicity. Associated with the issue of ethnicity is the issue of chieftaincy that has constantly come under attack in the country in recent years. Both issues lie at the heart of the nation’s traditions and culture and cannot be discarded overnight without injuring Ghana’s soul and its heritage.

I strongly feel that the country as a whole should address these two related issues; and also tackle a third conjoined issue, namely Ghana’s land tenure system which is as worrying as the two issues mentioned above. All three conjoined issues are problematic and require urgent attention if Ghana is to move forward peacefully as a nation. I recommend the setting up of a very high level cross-party inter-ethnic council of eminent Ghanaians to discuss and resolve these three issues that have direct effect on the development and progress of the country. Alternatively, I suggest that the political parties should discuss the three problems within their party ‘think-tanks’ and evolve policy guidelines that they can include as part of their future election manifestos and which they can then put before Ghanaians in future elections.

It is also necessary for all parties to look at the problems of radicalism and indiscipline among party supporters, problems that account for the numerous incidents of election mal-practices, squabbles and hooliganisms. Reading through the articles and comments written by Ghanaians in connection with, and during, these elections one notices that a large section of the population does not understand the way democratic elections and arguments are conducted and how we need to treat our leaders who offer themselves for political offices. Ghana is over fifty years old, but at no time in the country’s political history has the issue of public education on a permanent national level been taken up and sustained seriously and effectively. We NOW need to tackle the problem of political indiscipline within the Ghanaian society which is crippling the very fibre of our democracy and nationhood.

Finally, may I TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO ADVISE OUT-GOING PRESIDENT, MR JA KUFUOR, AND EX-PRESIDENT, FL. LT. JJ RAWLINGS TO BOW OUT OF PARTISAN POLITICS COMPLETELY AFTER 7TH JANUARY 2009 AND MOVE, FROM THEN, TO PLAY THE FATHER-LIKE ROLES THAT THEIR POSITIONS AS ‘FORMER HEADS OF STATE’ BESTOW ON THEM. We all recognise that party politics is ‘filthy’ by nature and practice and that is the reason why conventional practice tries to protect our noble institution of chieftaincy from ‘disgrace’ by restraining chiefs from direct partisan politics. It would have been better if the Fourth Republican Constitution had contained a ban on former Heads of State of Ghana from participation in partisan politics. Some people would argue against my advice on the grounds that in countries like America and Britain where our political ideas generally come from, former national leaders continue to indulge in partisan politics. That is true; but then we should also accept that Ghana has not yet reached the political stages that those countries have reached. We need to do all we can to protect our young democracy.

May our nation rise above its political challenges and move forward together forever.

OTCHERE DARKO Author of “Sound-Silly-Talk” www.sound-silly-talk.com E-mail address: otchered @ yahoo.com Or: dankwamod1 @ yahoo.com