You are here: HomeOpinionsArticles2013 11 27Article 293335

Opinions of Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Columnist: Yawose, John

NDC tribalism based on perfidy, envy and blatant hatred.

I look at the political scene and I wonder how time and again NDC and their agents and apparatchiks freely make provocative and ethnocentric comments which threaten the stability of the nation but anytime NPP and their agents say or do similar things they, NDC, go to town, turn round and create uproar in the body politic that NPP are tribalistic and divisive. NDC would then go ahead and sow ethnocentric garbs, gowns, fugu and kaba and forcefully force NPP to wear.

How come that some NDC ethnocentric comments and doings are regarded as normal and regular but such NPP comments and doings become tribalistic, abnormal and irregular and which NDC wickedly and treacherously capitalize on to twist political thinking in Ghana especially amongst the Zongos and minority tribes? NDC stinking mouths are doing a lot of havoc. They have been boosting their electoral fortunes out of perfidy, envy, dishonesty and blatant hatred.

A typical example is the news item last Monday thus:- ‘’’ The Paramount Chief of Aflao Traditional Area, Torgbui Adzornugaga Amenya Fiti V, has promised to deliver 100,000 votes from Ketu South for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President John Mahama in the 2016 general elections. Torgbui Adzornugaga Amenya Fiti V said the promise followed an earlier one he made before the 2012 elections, adding that he was able to secure 80,000 votes for the party. He added that since Ketu South and Aflao in particular were the ‘world bank’ of the NDC, the President and the party should be confident that they would attain 100,000 votes in 2016. He made the comment at a durbar held in honour of President John Mahama, who has begun a nationwide thanksgiving tour. ----‘’.

To President Mahama and his NDC foul mouths, the utterance of the chief was normal despite its obvious violation of the stipulations of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which forbids traditional leaders from participating in active politics.

My point will be clearer if we assume that the shoe was on the other foot and Kufuor /NPP were in power and say Asantehene or any Paramount Chief in Ashanti Region, at a durbar held in honour of President Kufuor had promised to deliver 100,000 votes from his area for the NPP in the impending general elections. Would such comments have been taken as normal by NDC in their perpetually hate filled bigotish minds? NDC petty mindedness and hate culture would have created unnecessary uproar and commotion in Ghana about exhibition of some non-existent hegemonist NPP tendencies.

In the same vein, I will ask the following questions:- 1. Would it have been acceptable and normal if President Kufuor had granted 2-year extension contract to retiring IGP Patrick Acheampong – just as President Mahama has done to IGP Mohammed Alhassan?

2. Would it have been normal and acceptable if all three Speaker- contestants of NPP dominated parliament of Kufuor had all come from Ashanti Region – just as Doe Ajaho, Obed Asamoah, Philip Gheho all from Volta Region contested the position of Speaker under President Mahama this year?

3. The Omanhene of Seikwa in Brong Ahafo Region sends message to the police that he is under threat. Later he gets robbed and then he gets assassinated three months later. Would it be a normal happening under President Kufuor? Refer to YANA episode.

4. Presently, President Mahama’s 19-man cabinet has no representation from Ashanti Region in clear violation of the constitutional stipulations. If Kufuor 19-man cabinet had no Volta Region representation, would that have been ok and acceptable for Ghana? Would Volta Region citizens have kept quite in that situation as Ashantis have kept quiet, now?

5. It would be recalled that Togbe Afede XIV, Paramount Chief of the Asogli Area and President of the VR House of Chiefs, commented at a durbar organized by the chiefs and people of the region in honour of President Mills that:-‘’'Voltarians were made to feel like strangers in their own country for the past eight years’’ The comment was good in the body politic then. So if Asantehene the President of Asanteman Council makes such similar comments now that: - Ashantis are being made to feel like strangers in their own country, under Mills/Mahama administrations’’- will that be ok? It’s a wonder. It’s amazing. The other day Ofosu Kwake the foulmouth impudent Deputy Minister of Information openly challenged NPP that they should not take their Presidential candidates from Akan dominated Ashanti/Eastern Region to show that they are a National Party. I expect a reply from NPP to also challenge NDC that they should also take their Presidential Candidates from Ashant/Eastern Regions to show that they are also National Party. NPP must be bold and face NDC tribal charges squarely and expose their hypocritical tendencies. Clearly, NDC age long machinations and manoeuvrings have impregnated the unfavourable situation whereby NDC personnel speak and act freely in ways deemed acceptable in the body politic but NPP personnel are lambasted and sort of shouted down as being ethnocentric, when they act similarly. I have demonstrated examples above to buttress this point. Is it how Ghana must continue to do its politics with hatred and victimisation of one side whereby one side perpetually uses tribalism to boost its electoral fortunes? Why are NPP not able to do similar things NDC do freely? Somebody should educate me. It is time NPP confront these NDC campaigns of tribalism based on perfidy, envy, jealousy and blatant hatred. My firm conclusion is that NPP have been cowed into an inferior position by NDC doings and manipulations all these years for their –NDC- electoral advantage. John Yawose