Ugly Face Of Political Impunity

President Akufo-Addo

When party activists take the law into their hands and especially destroy state properties in the name of venting their anger, they present a bad image of themselves and the political groupings they claim to represent.

No party worth its salt would condone acts of unruliness regardless of the circumstances. Some parties might have earned such unenviable attributes for themselves. When the ruling party activists make regrettable headlines of impunity, we tend to fear a possible infection of the body politics by the unwanted contagion.

The recent acts of impunity said to have been perpetrated by party activists in Kumasi demand a permanent solution to the wrong impression which people have about their parties in power.

The reason it is dangerous to start acts of hooliganism by political parties is that it sets a bad precedence which others try out when their groupings come to power, since after all, the blueprint exists for replication.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is that person who would never interrupt with due process of the legal system in the country. He spoke against these negative tendencies when they reared their heads during the previous order and should not be seen under any circumstances to be giving the nod to the crudeness in politics.

We think that some Ghanaians in both the leading political parties in the country do not understand what governance and the rule of law are all about. Otherwise they would not be descending into the gutters and conducting themselves so badly that they become indisputable media negative subjects.

We are pleased that some suspects in the mayhem have been identified and arrested who have showed remorse for their crazy conduct anyway.

It is important that the leaderships of the main political parties engage with their supporters and especially teach them about the ethics which should guide their conduct, above all, about the supremacy of the rule of law without which we are but creatures in the animal kingdom.

Our request might sound like a tall order against the backdrop of politicians encouraging such unruliness in the past. Be it as it may, there must be a start to every good action.

We do not concur with those who claim the previous ruling party tactics should be allowed to play as revenge. There could not have been a nonsensical suggestion.

We must record growth as the years elapse in terms of how we manage the arduous task of governance by allowing the law to work without undue interference from those at the helm.

We must congratulate President Nana Akufo-Addo for so far exhibiting that rare quality in the political leadership in the country of non-interference in matters of the rule of law. There have been several instances of the Presidency directing the discontinuation of cases because suspects in these belong to the ruling party.

We must change the way we do things in the country so we can register different results. Not doing this would distance us away from progress. The situation where police officers rate some cases as political and therefore turn away from them should be a thing of the past.

Those who breach the law must be made to face the law courts for due process to take place. The “our party is in power and so we can do as we please” is a mark of political backwardness which is not what President Nana Akufo-Addo stands for.

 

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