Politics everywhere virtually operates on the same rules. See nothing good about your opponent; Blame your opponent for every misfortune, including natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought and floods; Hammer the sore parts when it matters most; and Hang your mistakes like a noose around the neck of your opponents.
President Barrack Obama of the US did not escape the intrigues of politics when he came to power and occupied the Oval Office in the White House.
Americans, especially the hard core conservatives, did not take long to blame him for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though former President George W. Bush, in his memoirs, has expressed regrets for not seeing any weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, a pretext used to invade Iraq.
The recession and its credit crunch was at its peak in 2008, when Obama was campaigning for the White House but the collapse of business on Wall Street and unemployment have been attributed to his bad policies.
When there was an explosion on an oil rig belonging to British Petroleum (BP) in the Gulf of Mexico causing the leakage of millions of barrels into the ocean, President Obama took the blame for not acting fast enough to protect the coastal environment and for not acting hard against the oil giant. That is politics.
But politics can have a human face, especially for those who believe that the bottom line of the game is to make sure that the people get what they want. That was why Obama, while musing over the abysmal performance of the Democrats in the mid-term congressional elections, could not but acknowledge that he had not been able to successfully promote his economic rescue message to anxious Americans and, therefore, appreciate their frustrations.
In an interview with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), Obama admitted that he had stopped paying attention “to the leadership style he displayed during his run for the presidency, and pledged to find common ground with the Republicans on many issues”.
Apparently in furtherance of this objective, has invited both Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders to meet at the White House on November 18, 2010 to discuss, among other things, economic measures, tax cuts, unemployment benefits and stimulus packages, issues which dominated the recent elections.
“I want us to talk substantively about how we can move the American people’s agenda forward,” President Obama said of that intended meeting.
In Ghana, our politics is not lacking in the earlier ingredients mentioned. Our incumbent governments hardly give credit to previous ones but are quick to blame them for their own failures. We even do worse. We do not follow any national development agenda and that is why we have a lot of uncompleted projects scattered all over the country while at the same time initiating new ones.
However, that is nothing compared to insults — crude and vulgar insults — that have become part and parcel of our politics. At first, we could tolerate a few irresponsible and very often fabricated words thrown at political opponents on campaign platforms, knowing very well that politicians are always carried away by the charged atmosphere characteristic of political rallies to “talk by heart”.
We all would have wished that after the campaigns and a new government is in place, things would return to normalcy and ensure that decency and decorum light the path for all our actions and expressions.
Unfortunately, we are descending deeper into the gutters and one can hardly tune in to a radio station on a normal day without encountering insults from one politician on another.
The habit has become so entrenched that those who could not oil their lips with abusive words in the political domain are seen as the odd ones. Thank God, it seems we are getting to the saturating point now and voices of dissent are beginning to sound the alarms — we are heading closer to the brink, if we do not mend our political ways.
The President of the Republic, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, publicly expressed his abhorrence for foul words on Wednesday, October 27, 2010 while inaugurating the rehabilitated rail link between Tema and Accra.
Charity, they say, begins at home and we are expectantly waiting for the reaction of the President when any member of his government oversteps the bounds of decency and flings insulting words at others.
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) also drew attention to the canker in a communiqué the legal body issued at the end of its conference, which called for respect for the dignity of our national leadership.
The Catholic Bishops of Ghana, at their meeting at Sefwi Wiawso, joined the chorus against what they described as the culture of insults, which has dominated our politics in recent times.
Just last week, on Wednesday, November 3, 2010, Members of Parliament brought the subject to the floor of the House.
While some of the honourable members of the House were pointing accusing fingers at others, especially the media, others did a thorough soul-searching and came to the conclusion that whatever was carried in the media was their handiwork.
All these groups of prominent and respectable citizens have spoken. It means the problem is real and requires immediate solution.
What about the group which acts like the conveyor belt sending the final product to millions of Ghanaians in their homes, workplaces, drinking spots, eating places and on the streets? I am referring to those who work in the media houses and who have become conduits of foul language in our country?
Have those noisy social commentators, political analysts and the phone-in contractors also reflected soberly on the harm they are causing this country by the way they are exercising their media freedom and freedom of expression? The politicians can be irresponsible but it takes an equally irresponsible media to bring their utterances to the public domain. That is why the media, like the MPs, must also do their own soul-searching.
Sometimes when people, including very knowledgeable professionals, appeal to the National Media Commission (NMC) to step in and bring wayward media practitioners to order, I wonder if they are aware of the limitations of the NMC. Beyond public condemnation and an order for retraction, the NMC can do very little to curb abuse of media freedom. The solution lies in individual media professionals, who should be able to predict the consequences of what, to some of them, is their freedom to practise their profession.
There is no way we can think alike and there is no way we cannot have disagreements. But whether we like it or not, our interests converge – good schools, good roads, adequate health facilities, employment for all and money in everybody’s pocket, regular and cheaper electric power, etc. We may differ on how to reach these targets but if we mean well, we shall be able to accommodate one another’s views and work towards the common goal.
The Americans have proved that while playing all the games associated with politics they still have the American dream to pursue. That was why their political leaders are meeting at the White House on November 18, 2010. And that was why Republican John Boehner of Ohio, who is heading for the post of Speaker in Congress, in his victory speech, promised to work with President Obama to turn the economy round.
The insults, at best, can only polarise us and divert precious attention from the real issues. It is better we begin to extricate ourselves from the dungeons into which we have thrown ourselves in the desperate attempt to discredit our political opponents.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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