The Precipice

The events of last week may not have come as a surprise to many. The principal character in the whole drama, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, the Honourable Member of Parliament for Assin North, is predictable. Those who listen to him will tell you that when in his elements, Mr Agyapong will not say anything that is pleasing to the ears even though he has his admirers. Party solidarity was quite evident but for once, many agreed that the Assin North MP had gone too far if even his outbursts were in reaction to events of the period. He might not have meant the words but their consequences were quite devastating to warrant his arrest by the police. What might have been of great concern to many Ghanaians was the manner the police and the Attorney Generals Department were struggling through the statute books to locate the appropriate charge(s) against Mr Agyapong. You cannot blame them either. Maybe our lawmakers never had a place for words that have the potency of bringing war or causing mass murder in the country apparently because we always claim we are a peace-loving people. Whatever the case, we got to the saturation point last week and as a nation we cannot take any more. Those who always claim we are different from others who lost their peace and stability due to careless behaviour would begin to revise their notes. Suddenly everyone is advising everybody on the need to control our tongues and acts. The radio and television discussions toned down and the phone-in programmes lost their acidity. We all know now that this country can easily go the way others have gone if we do not play our political games well. The high marks the international community had been dishing to us has suffered. We are trying to prove them wrong that we are politically matured and will continue to be the beacon to guide the rest of Africa on the democratic path. What a shame! We thank Mr Kennedy Agyapong that he did not say what he was alleged to have said on election day when vote counting was taking place and people’s blood pressure was rising to abnormal levels. Those careless remarks would have sent people running for cover as gun and machete wielding people begin to charge on fellow Ghanaians. The question some of us are constantly asking is: “Are these intolerable acts and insults motivated by nationalism and patriotism”? Or they are being influenced by greed and self-interest. If it is for our sake, then we beg all the politicians to leave this country intact for us. Already, three institutions – the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) – have pointed out the effects this culture of political intolerance are having on the economy. The cedi, the national currency, is falling against other currencies while the investment climate which was one of the best in this part of the continent cannot be said to be the same today. The business community would be asking whether this country that was being touted as the oasis in the desert, when people are marching to registration centres with guns, machetes and other offensive weapons. What will then happen on voting day, they would be asking. The media cannot escape blame in this sad situation. In the name freedom of expression and the independence of the media, a new breed of commentators and political analysts have emerged and have turned the airwaves and the newspaper pages into battle grounds where foul and abusive words are the most potent weapons. We have failed to discuss our poverty in the midst of plenty, our illiteracy which is increasing and the ignorance that has enveloped us and instead chosen to make personalities the centre of our discussions. We have failed to ask ourselves why Switzerland, a small country that has not got a single cocoa tree but has one of the biggest chocolate factories in the world, while we continue to pride ourselves as major producers of raw cocoa beans. We have a lot of water resources that other countries do not have. But processing for consumption has become a big puzzle for us. The Volta Lake alone has the capacity to make a positive influence on our economy in the form of fishing, transportation, tourism and irrigation farming if only we can shelve our begging habits and confront our problems squarely. We seem to have embarked on a number of projects none of which is ever completed. Our national capital is drenched in filth. We still have pan latrines in the capital and other major cities in the country in this 21st century. Our children are still crawling on their knees to take their lessons. We have enough arable land but we continue to receive food aid from countries like Japan whose landscape is not suitable for serious agriculture. Today China is our everything and we are not doing anything to assert our independence. This is the painful reality of our situation. These are issues that should engage our discussions on daily basis and not who has the strongest jaw out of which can come the most violent and abusive words. Events of last week may be a blessing in disguise, that is if we are ready to learn the useful lessons it offered us. Perhaps it has jolted us into reality that we may be toying with our national peace after all. Today we might have succeeded in treating the words of Kennedy Agyapong with the contempt they deserved. We may not be lucky the second time. That is why we should tone down our political discourse. We must focus on our miserable state and think of how to come out of poverty and misery using the abundant resources God has generously given us. We are standing at the precipice. We saw it in 2008. One false step, the abyss. kofiakordor.blogspot.com fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com