Otiko Afisa Djaba
The tally of indecorous language against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is long. It dwarfs what has so far been credited to their main opponent, the New Patriotic Party (NPP); it comes nowhere near headline grade.
It was surprising therefore when during Otiko Djaba’s turn at the Appointments Committee sitting yesterday three of the NDC’s spinners of indecorous language, put alternatively, sharp teethed ‘babies,’ played back political campaign remarks by the nominee. It was tendentious and bore all the trappings of payback time to a lady who constituted a thorn in the flesh of the NDC.
No wonder they exacted their pound of flesh by withholding their nod, her intransigence a source of further embarrassment to them.
While both parties – NDC and NPP – traded vitriolic as mentioned in a preceding paragraph, the former earned notoriety in this line of dirty politicking. They were after all the originators who blended the gutters tactics with propaganda.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings for good reasons, labeled the frontline ones ‘babies with sharp teeth.’ He was not challenged because the description fitted them aptly, but they detested it even yesterday when Otiko revisited it with glee.
The payback period which the protagonists of this line of politicking sought to exploit by the presence of Otiko Djaba, was reason why they posed questions regarding remarks she passed about Charlotte Osei and former President John Mahama.
They had stomached the pain of the campaign trail charges for too long and what better place to revenge than during a vetting process under the aegis of the Parliament of Ghana.
Unfortunately however, their efforts only reminded Ghanaians about how much infamy they had incurred during their campaign engagements which raised the political temperature of the country unduly.
Today they sit down as judges in so-called morality cases as they relate to nominees.
This world is full of contradictions; and each time signs of these emerge we wonder the extent to which mankind – the bad ones of course – can stretch pretentious attitudes to.
We looked at them with awesome amazement as we juxtaposed the horrible days of Radio Rwan… oh no Radio… and the roles they played during those restive political moments in our history.
Should those who were able to incite people to pick whatever weapons they could garner and assemble at the radio station in its so-called defence of its bloody principles because an imaginary attack from outer space was imminent, sit in judgment over others in matters bordering on national morality? Another clear case of moral contradiction a knotty one for that matter.
We wish by their posturing they have so soon learnt important lessons in morality and that they would sin no more.
We doubt if that is the case, given the fact that theirs was but an exercise in revenge full of inconsistencies which cannot pass muster.
We do not want to say indecorous language and conduct are qualities in their political DNA for fear of being painted with the same brush used by concerned Ghanaians when they observed their activities on especially notorious radio stations.