What is Kufuor Afraid Of? - A Rejoinder

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The verdict on the article posted by Ghanaman: What is Kufuor Afraid Of would in one bold sweep be described as: Highly Inflammable Material. This is a hazardous material intended to enrage Ghanaians with unsubstantiated emotional charges. It is all emotions and no facts my friends.

Man if you have to engage discerning and sophisticated Ghanaians you have to do more than that. As I can say the author?s coat was tightening around his neck almost to the point of strangulation. Let us take a deep breath and back out a little. Now let?s look at what Ghanaman has poured down on our doorsteps.

Theory versus reality.

If we have to opine that the ultimate responsibility of a president is to protect his citizens against aggression, then yes we would say the buck stops at the desk of President Kufour for not preventing the murder of the Great King Ya Na, the Overlord of Dagbon. But then stretched to its limit Kufour would be responsible for all the murders in the country, all the armed robbery, all the thievery that goes on in high and low places.

But of course the above scenario is not what Ghanaman was talking about. What he shamefully did was to insinuate or charge that President Kufour was cloak and dagger in the planning, monitoring, execution, evidence tempering and impeding or undermining of the investigation surrounding the murder of the Ya Na. Really?

Murder Motive

The question would beg to be asked: what is his motive? Why would Kufour want the Ya Na dead? What were the costs and benefits here? How would his political prospects be enhanced or impeded by the death or life of the Ya Na? Simply put how does the death of the Ya Na benefit him Kufour?

Measured against the background leading to his death you would realize it does not require any stretch of imagination that the Ya Na, for some unexplained circumstances had become a polarizing lightening rod among his own people. I do not state this to justify his barbarous death. What I mean is it looks like the Ya Na had failed to unify the Dagbon kingdom around him and significant section of his people had up to the time of his death come to feel marginalized and alienated. So much so that they began to challenge or encroach upon certain rites and roles reserved for the Ya Na. Why else would a section of the people defy or disrespect him by staging their own opposing fire festival? That to me is an indication they had withdrawn their loyalty and respect towards him.

I am not an expert on Dagbon issues neither do I pretend to be one. What I am trying to do is subject what happened to critical analysis. The people who killed the Ya Na and danced in the streets at his shameful demise were Dagbani citizens. The sitting Vice-President is Dagbon citizen. He and Kufour had said time and time again they had no ill feeling towards the Ya Na and in fact looked upon him as a fatherly figure and a friend whose counsel they sought. What do you make of such assertions? You may believe them or not, and that is your opinion.

Why won?t Kuffour go to Yendi?

That brings me again to the itching question: what is the motive here? Why would anybody want the Ya Na dead? What were the burning questions and frustration at the grassroots? What role did politics play in this national shame? I don?t have the answers, but to the extent that some people would want to throw politics into the equation it would appear politics indeed had become a dividing issue at the Gbewaa Palace, the Gateway to the great Savannah north of Ghana. It would appear to me the two main gates in Dagbon, the Andanis and Abudus, had regrettably aligned themselves to various competing political houses to the extent that they have come to see each other not as brothers descended from the one single great Naa Gbewaa, but as political enemies who cannot live along side each other in peace and harmony.

That maybe explains Kufour?s reluctance to go up to Yendi for he refuses to be drawn in as a political pawn in a fratricidal war. He does not want to be seen as a hero by those who adore or support his NPP faction at the dismay of the NDC faction. Could there be any greater reason for chiefs and royal houses to stay out of politics? You bet.

The Pursuit of Freedom and Justice in a Democracy

Let me tell you what I fault Kufour with. I fault Kufour for not rushing to round up all able bodied Dagbanis, men and women, shepherd them into a barn like Abu Ghraib prison, and torture them until they talked the truth. Short of people coming forward with actionable intelligence and evidence to capture the perpetrators of that heinous crime, that is what the critics are calling for, there is very little the authorities can do. Let us not forget that in a democracy everybody is entitled to a modicum of civil rights, freedom from untoward torture and beatings like it used to be under some military regimes, and that all people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. It is evidence, actionable and substantive evidence backed by credible witnesses stupid.

We are in a democracy for Christ sake and patient and meticulous police work, in tandem with unafraid citizens who mean what they see and say, is the norm. Regrettable as the Ya Na death is we cannot haul anybody to death on mere hearsay and suspicion. Who said good governance and democracy is without pains and frustrations? The president is the father of the nation and he is suppose to give assurance, solace and comfort to the people in times of crisis, but that is against the backdrop of a unified community not when the two sides have daggers drawn at each others throat. The peace pipe would have to be smoked again, the bows and arrows and guns beaten into hoes and shovels before the president can go and sit with the Gates in Dagbon. Meanwhile if he goes there, let?s say he decides to go to Dagon, who would be holding the durbar to receive him? Not the people who killed the Ya Na, he would be rewarding a very bad behavior, neither the bereaved Andanis for he would be hardening and making permanent the division amongst the people. I cannot see how the enemies of the Ya Na ? don?t forget his own brothers in the perceived other gate, I do not see how both of them can sit at the same durbar grounds to receive the president under the current circumstances without security risks.

This is a very complicated matter and we cannot employ ?buga buga? or ?gidi gidi? here. The root causes of the shameful event have to be investigated, the culprits brought to justice, the late Ya Na and his family honored in a dignified way before the healing process can begin. Meanwhile Kufour refuses to be drawn into to a bloody political family feud and I kind of understand why. Yet still I am also frustrated by the fact that two years and counting he has not been able to visit Dagbon. The feuding family Gates have not been unified and the healing has not started. Intransigence and bitter hardened positions are everywhere and can again explode at the least provocation. The hurt is still there and bubbling beneath the surface. That having been said Kufour should find means to connect with the people to press home that in spite of what has happened he has not abandoned them and he is working very hard to address their concerns. If anybody has an easy answer and formula let him put forward.