Asantehene Bellows Tribal Discrimination: What Next Nana?

On Monday February 2nd 2015, Ghanaweb published an article titled “Asantes crying over neglect by the NDC gov’t”. This article was sourced from the Daily Guide press outlet. The article reported that, “with a grim face, the Asantehene disclosed that he had in recent times received several complaints and reports about how people with Asante extraction were being discriminated against on the job market, even though they had the requisite qualifications.” NDC, led by Mahama, is being accused of discrimination. My initial reaction was to yelp this: Since when did requisite qualifications guarantee anyone a job? Getting a job is not about requisite qualifications, I moaned. Instead, it is about the best requisite qualifications given a group of equally qualified applicants. That is if you believe in a meritocracy right? Is Ghana a meritocracy? Your guess is as good as mine!

My brothers and sisters, how can we tell if Asantehene is right in his charge? What is the basis of his inflammatory and mind tingling accusation? In the tribal tinder box called Ghana, did Asantehene flash a torch that could ignite an explosion? What if the explosion leaves a debilitating crater? On the other hand, how can we tell if he is actually telling God’s honest truth about NDC’s tribalism? Is the NDC capable of tribalism? Is the NPP capable of tribalism? How do we know?

The Asante chief, like a male lion, processing the toxin from a cobra bite, displays twines of thick starchy saliva dripping slowly along his teeth. He bellows into the dark eerie night, reverberating roars of intimidation, pain and searing worry. He is helpless looking on, as his loyal subjects, beckon him to speak up. Speak up Nana, yentie obiarra dance with the president notwithstanding. Is bellowing tunes of despair all Nana can do? What really is his recourse in our current democratic dispensation? Where can he turn to for validation and redress? The concern here does not require constitutional interpretation. Instead, it requires investigation and data driven action, designed to authenticate or invalidate his claims. Where can Nana officially file his claim of hardcore tribalism by a sitting government? Where can the alleged victims air their grievances?

My friends, tribalism is a virulent strand of discrimination. Unqualified discrimination is wrong. And yes, there is qualified discrimination but tribalism is not one of them. Tribalism continues to gnaw painfully at the soul of our country. It is wrong to deny any human the right to work in a perceived meritocracy. What is the purpose of a competitive bias free hiring system, if in the end, qualified candidates are not chosen? Tribalism is an egregious and significant blight in our current context because it contributes to incompetence and mismanagement. Never mind the tribal tensions that billow across the landscape. How then do we establish a crushing case of tribalism?

Will the anchor hold if tribalism morphs into violent conflict? Echoes of Rwanda are not far-fetched. Tribalism denies us the opportunity to leverage talent that a diverse workforce offers. It violates fundamental human rights and must be stopped in its tracks. Yet, both major parties have been accused of tribalism whenever they’ve been in power. Tribal politics, as we speak, is polarizing our beloved country and distracting from real issues that must be attended to now. In the end, it is a lose/lose proposal for the country. The only people that benefit from tribalism are the member(s) of the tribe that engaged in it. They benefit to the detriment of you, country and me.

I believe it is time to move beyond bellows, speculation and ineffectual charges of tribal discrimination. It is time that we put in place, viable institutions, designed to bark and bite when clear evidence of proof is adduced to support tribal discrimination charges. Yes perception is reality! However, sheer perception without hard proof (data or information) can be misleading and misplaced. This is a classic case of creating long overdue institutions, designed to deal with the nagging problem of tribalism.

We need a formula that will dissolve the lethal calcification or plaque, called tribalism. At the same time as we weaken tribalism, we should take deliberate steps to entrench in its place, a culture of inclusion and diversity. It is surely going to require heavy lifting but I believe we will prevail if we commit. Relatively, Ghana has done well given our amalgamation of tribes. Keep in mind also, that, we cannot eliminate tribalism. However, we can seriously dent it, and as a result, keep it effectively managed.

Chapter 5, Article 17, clause (2) of our constitution espouses anti-discrimination cover for the following protected classes: gender, race, color, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status and clause (3) covers place of origin, political opinions, and occupation. Constitutionally, there is firm basis for passing anti-tribalism discrimination laws. Indeed Chapter 5, Article 17 (4) stipulates clearly that nothing in this article shall prevent Parliament from enacting laws that are reasonably necessary to provide- (a) for the implementation of policies and programmes aimed at redressing social, economic or educational imbalance in the Ghanaian society.

All we need now is the political will to act and act fast. If I were president Mahama, given all the tribalism charges, this will be a top priority. I will fix tribalism and not manage it. Perhaps the best independence gift we can give ourselves is to consider this legislation immediately. If we want to go beyond leveling unsubstantiated charges of tribalism, let’s act now. Let’s act to put the weak minded tribalism vendors to shame and punish the purveyors of tribe.

Legislation is just a first step in many that ought to be taken to address the tribalism challenge. Ghana as we know, has many institutions. A lot of these institutions are totally and awfully dysfunctional. They are so because of many reasons, including the people that run the institution, as well as adequate funding, needed to fuel the institution. Out of this legislation, the government must create an agency similar to the EEOC in the USA.

This agency should be manned by well trained personnel. Besides, the agency should be charged with investigating and reporting on tribal discrimination cases. In addition, the agency will be responsible for diversity and sensitivity training throughout the country. Not only that, it must have the power to impose fines and seek redress in the court of law for ordinary citizens and against government agencies. An agency of this stature, dedicated to tribalism, is long overdue in Ghana. If we are to value and leverage diversity, we must act now.

To wit, for an agency charged with dealing tribal discrimination to function properly, it must have unmitigated access to information or data. This makes it pertinent that we streamline guidelines for collecting demographic information in relation to work. Notice that without data, the American government could never have proved widespread discrimination against the city of Ferguson, in Missouri. Job application forms will have to be redesigned and technology deployed to gather, store and rigorously analyze information. The need to strengthen and shore up our information system is critical even as we consider other efforts such as the Freedom of Information Act. We cannot get to the bottom of tribalism if we don’t collect data. The data that we collect must have integrity, be accessible and amenable to rigorous analysis. Without information and contextual analysis, charges like the one made by Asantehene, will remain mere speculation.

I will be remiss if I don’t emphasize the need to entrust this effort to people of integrity. One of my favorite refrains echoes the notion that a system is as good as the people that run it. The latter holds true in this context as well. We can create the best institutions in the world and make available a war chest that bedazzles Bill Gates. However, if we man these institutions with inept, corrupt and morally bankrupt individuals, our efforts will not amount to a hill of beans. It will take efforts at both the national, regional, and district level to make this work. All of us have a responsibility to make it work. If you believe tribal discrimination is wrong, here is your opportunity to put your shoulder to the wagon.

Lastly, let me take this privilege to talk about personal responsibility. Legislation cannot cure tribalism but can help put a significant dent in it. We will need multiple lines of changes within our society to make this effort bite. It will require folks to do the right thing without the law breathing on their neck. Secondly, it will take people of high moral suasion to help address the ugly challenge of tribalism. We have to hold each other accountable. We have to challenge our loved ones, family members, tribesmen to act altruistically. If you hear about or witness tribal discrimination actions or utterances, say something. Encourage the people that you surround yourself with to be sensitive to tribal discrimination and abuse. Whether we discriminate deliberately or end up with unintended impact, tribalism is wrong and it will take personal responsibility on our part to make tribalism insignificant. Diversity if leveraged effectively, offers tremendous potential and outstanding results. Together we can help weaken the gale of tribalism. Something has to give for sure!

Nii Lantey Okunka Bannerman (Alias Da Black Swan aka Santrofi Anumaa)
The writer is a host for the popular political talk show, People Parliament, on Highlife Radio (www.highliferadio.com ). Please call 712-432-5345 to listen or 703-722-6039 to join us every Saturday Morning from 9am-12noon Eastern Time.

I don’t give them hell, I just tell the truth and they think its hell—Harry Truman