Beating unnecessary war drums

Last week, the police invited the media to brief them about their preparations towards Election 2012. On display for public view were some accoutrements of their business. These included armoured vehicles, water cannons and other riot control gear. These, the police have promised to deploy to counter those who would want to cause mischief during the elections. We cherish our peace as a nation at all times and not only during elections. It will, therefore, be the wish of every citizen that the police, being the guardians of internal order, were provided with all the resources, both human and material, to undertake that enterprise to the satisfaction of all. However, preparing for national elections is not the same as preparing for war and if the idea is to put the fear of the Lord into mischievous characters, then we may be sending the wrong signals and creating psychological wounds in their skulls which may take long to heal. What we need to do as a nation is to create all the necessary conditions for a free and fair election to avoid stirring emotions that could trigger discontent and probably violent behaviour. If we fail and that happens, no amount of armour will scare an aggrieved population and the consequences would be beyond the control of a few police vans spraying tear gas among a mob. Perhaps we need to take a few lessons from history. In 1974, what became known as the Ethiopian Revolution started as street protests by workers for better wages and economic reforms. Government reaction, as usual, was to use the police to quell the daily demonstrations which never stopped. Things took a different turn, the police also embarked on strike on the same grounds -- economic hardships – and refused to go to the streets to suppress the civilian demonstrations. The military, which was already at the battle front in Eritrea, joined the protests and not long, the empire of Emperor Haille Selassie came to an end. The Islamic Revolution of Iran started in 1978 as street protests against the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who vainly tried to use brute force at the disposal of the military to quell it. By January, 1979, the Shah himself had to flee into exile and the opposition, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, took over and prepared the ground for the Islamic Revolution. There was a photograph of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 which captured global attention and continue to be a symbol of people’s resistance up till today. That was a picture of a lone man standing before a column of military tanks prepared to be crushed. The man was not crushed but the protests which started in April of that year was brought to an end on June 4, 1989, with the declaration of martial law by the Chinese authorities after the death of hundreds of protesting civilians. All the above examples showed that once you set certain events in motion, the fear element is gone and people would be prepared to make the supreme sacrifice if that would be the only way they could register their point. The best bet, therefore, is to make sure that things do not get that far. We have been organising elections since 1992, but each time it seems to be the first, full of fear, suspicion and apprehension. Why should electing our lawmakers and a president for the republic generate so much heat so much so that the police, that are supposed to be peace officers, have to put on display battle hardware to frighten the population? There are those who will suffer personal losses when they lose the election and there are those who will make personal gains when they win the elections. These categories of people are behind the tension in our election. If we can isolate such people and selfish intentions, there will be no need to prepare for war when elections are due. The best way to ensure a peaceful election is to display maturity and civility in all the electoral processes. All those who have key roles to play in the process – from the Electoral Commission to the political parties and their candidates – must act with fairness and firmness and do what is expected of them according to law; and on voting day the police armoured vehicles and water cannons will remain redundant. It is a big shame that in Africa, elections are associated with fear and apprehension, sometimes ending in violence like what happened in Kenya in 2007 and Cote d’Ivoire in 2011 and part of this year. If the national good is the objective, then those war drums must remain silent so that we can reflect soberly and decide who among the candidates comes closest to what we want in a leader and choose accordingly. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com