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Opinions of Friday, 2 March 2018

Columnist: Kwaku Badu

Not only will NDC free criminals, most crucial policies will be reversed!

Nii Lante Vanderpuye said the NDC will free Abuga Pele, should the party recapture power Nii Lante Vanderpuye said the NDC will free Abuga Pele, should the party recapture power

Sometimes, one cannot help but to admire some of our politicians for their incredible dexterity in disinformation metastasising, or to put it euphemistically, their adroitness in systematic propagation of propaganda.

Indeed, the never ending display of hypocrisy by the NDC loyalists is mind-boggling.

I bet if you were to ask a younger Ghanaian on what is history; most likely, the first thing that would come into their mind would be about the untold stories on football world cup tournaments, music fiestas, beauty contests amongst others. Truly, the preservation of Ghana’s contemporary history is under serious threat.

In fact, it is of grave concern that an important subject like history has been unpardonably removed from Ghana’s basic education system. How bizarre?

It is, therefore, not least surprising that the present-day Ghanaian student does not even have a clue about Ghana’s contemporary history.

If most NDC loyalists really knew their history, they would have realised that, it was their beloved NDC that can trace its culture and ethos to treasonable coup d’états and despotism.

“If you would look deeper, history is broad yet deep that binds the core existence of the world. Hence, history keeps the records of events that happened.

“History is a lesson in the past but can also be the greatest regret of the future. Yet the reason why there is history is because of the events that were created by man (Hughes 2010).”

Somehow, the NDC faithful tend to forget their history, or should I say their ideology?

Whatever the case, I feel duty bound as a bona fide Ghanaian to offer free remedial history tutorials to the benighted and the younger generation of NDC brassbound supporters.

You may believe it or not, it is no understatement to opine that NDC has a penchant for reversing crucial national policies without any tangible reasons.

Some of us were indeed baffled over the NDC’s hasty and needless termination and replacement of the conventional educational system (Ordinary and Advanced Levels) with the communist Junior Secondary School model.

But as to whether the Junior Secondary School system has been successful in juxtaposition with the old school system is a million dollar question that I will leave to the conscience of discerning Ghanaians.

In fact, the NDC hierarchy’s irrevocable enthusiasm in reversing important national policies without basis did not end at the abolition of the old school system but they also bizarrely re-christened the Senior Secondary School (SSS) to irrelevant Senior High School (SHS).

As if that was not enough, the four-year Senior Secondary School system was catastrophically reversed to three-year cycle to the utter disgust of most discerning Ghanaians.

The list is not exhaustive and it would only take a doubting Thomas to contend that the future NDC government won’t reverse crucial national policies and programmes like the Free SHS, one district one factory, and one million dollar per constituency amongst others.

Given that the NDC faithful blissfully campaigned and voted against the poverty reduction Free SHS policy with unabashed disgust during the 2016 election, it will not come as a surprise at all if future NDC government decides to abolish the policy altogether.

Indeed, the opposition NDC operatives relentless cavorting and needless protestations against the Free SHS implementation should be a wake-up call to discerning Ghanaians.

After all, didn’t the erstwhile Mahama government wilfully run down the crucial social interventions to the chagrin of discerning Ghanaians?

Well, you would think that individuals who pride themselves as social democrats will be extremely empathetic to the needs of the masses, but this is not the case with the NDC apparatchiks.

Bizarrely, though, they only sing along the social democratic rendition and then turn their back on the masses. It is an illustrative case of social democrats who do not know how to initiate and manage social interventions.

And considering the party’s gloomy track record, I will be extremely amazed if discerning Ghanaians buy into the NDC loyalists desperate attempts to disassociate themselves from the seemingly preposterous remarks by the Member of Parliament for Odododiodoo that the party will release the former national Coordinator of GYEEDA, Abuga Pele, if it recaptures power in the 2020 general elections.

However abhorrent the MP’s statement may sound, it has been the party’s official position. Indeed, the NDC Member of Parliament was only mimicking the party’s bizarre position of pardoning obdurate criminals loyal to the party.

To be quite honest, it won’t be anything out of the ordinary if the future NDC government decides to grant pardon to convicted public officials affiliated to the National Democratic Congress.

If we take a stroll down memory lane, prior to the 2016 election, the NDC loyalists, including substantive ministers of state, brashly lined up, unblushingly signed a petition, and with unabashed disgust, beseeched Ex-President Mahama to remit the four-month prison sentence handed to the ever strident Montie FM host, Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe and two of his panelists who were convicted of contempt and sentenced accordingly by the Supreme Court.

It is believed that Ex-President Mahama took the weird decision following a petition signed by a host of top public officials and other NDC functionaries, who appalled the idea of their own being locked up for committing cognisable offence, and hence moved heaven and earth to get them out of prison.

The general belief at the time was that a host of top officials in Mahama’s government who endorsed the petition forced his hand to remit the sentences of the three boisterous brats who were affiliated to the National Democratic Congress.

In retrospect, Mugabe and his two panelists, Alistair Nelson, and Godwin Ako Gunn were sentenced to serve four months in prison for revoltingly threatening the lives of Justices of the Supreme Court.

Unsurprisingly, Ex-President Mahama’s weird and somewhat absolutist decision to remit the sentences of the impolitic Montie three sparked enormous indignation across the country with the vast majority of discerning Ghanaians rightly ventilating their arousing disgust and reprimanding the President for setting a bad precedent and somehow sabotaging the work of the judiciary.

As a matter of fact, in a constitutional democracy such as ours, our presidents powers are guided by the constitution and their limits are clearly stated. Suffice it to state that the remission of convicts’ sentences is encapsulated in the Constitution of Ghana (Article 72). But the all-important question then is: must such provision be used capriciously and discriminately?

It is absolutely true that Ghana’s 1992 Constitution has conferred prerogative powers on our presidents. By inference, they wield some constitutional absolutism such as the Article 72 which allows our presidents to pardon even convicted murderers.

Apparently, it is the same constitutional absolutism that he, Ex-President Mahama, exercised in the remission of the convicted Montie three, which many discerning Ghanaians saw as capricious, discriminatory and abuse of power.

Believe it or not, President Mahama somehow divided the nation following his controversial decision to free the three Montie boisterous brats amidst public outrage.

Ex-President Mahama and his NDC administration uncharacteristically ignored the concerns of the majority of Ghanaians, took a narrow party position and went with the few NDC brassbound loyalists to the disgust of the well-meaning Ghanaians.

Well, given the party’s appalling track record, it would only take a disputatious individual to suggest that the ‘yentie obia’ NDC government would not do it again if presented with another opportunity.