And the following were some of the reactions to them. ‘Political vigilantism: NPP reaping what they sowed—Mahama. ‘Former President John Mahama has observed that the increasing spate of political vigilantism and hooliganism in the country, involving foot soldiers of the governing party, is as a result of what the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has nurtured its supporters to become.’ That was the intro of the Daily Graphic report in as far as the recent vigilantism of some alleged NPP youth in some Districts in the country, particularly in the Northern part of this country where public facilities were attacked. Ignore the fact that such happened in worse cases under his leadership of the country.
‘Rise up and condemn acts of lawlessness–Rev. Korankye Ankrah. This was another headline in the same paper of October 31, 2017. He is reported, ‘The General Overseer of the Royal House Chapel, Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah has asked the various church councils in the country to rise up and condemn acts of lawlessness being exhibited by some youth within the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Again ignore the known fact that under the NDC, he never condemned any of the egregious human rights abuses inflicted on both government officials and non-government officials in the name of political vigilantism.
On and on, there have been calls from other well meaning citizens for government to bring an end to these acts of hooliganism. And whether those making those appeals or criticisms are for the party or against it, the issue is, are they right in their positions on the activities of some of our party people?
On the other hand, there have been reminders of some reports of the acts of the NDC in power as far as vigilantism is concerned. Read on ‘I am not a Policeman’, says President Atta Mills. This was in relation to public outcry on acts of vandalism by NDC foot soldiers during his reign and the pressure from the public on him to act to bring a halt to those abhorrent acts.
‘Police Arrest 25 Rampaging NDC Youth Over Nkwanta North Violence (August 2013).
‘Angry Banda Youth ransack DCE’s Office (August 2014), ‘NDC Youth On Rampage In Yendi’, ‘NDC Youth lock down Jirapa DCE’s Office’, ‘Irate NDC Youth chase out Sisala DCE, impound his car.’
These and many more of such reported cases of similar occurrences during the NDC era have come out from the NPP in our usual equalization of what is palpably wrong in the eyes of right thinking people and pungent to good conscience. Sometimes, the gown of hypocrisy which has draped all of us, paves the way for people from the other political divide who themselves may not agree with the political menace confronting this country to rise up against some otherwise noble citizens in our society because of their dead silence in time past when their preferred political party was in power. They either suffered temporary blindness or were too busy or comfortable to feel threatened by the hooliganism of party people from their stable.
Be that as it may, this country is gradually turning into a jungle because of the political ‘colourization’ we attach to almost every bad thing done by political party followers instead of looking at the law. No matter how bad some political actors operated in the past, no serious member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) must be seen to be engaging in acts the majority of the populace would frown upon.
The founding fathers of this party and its key followers suffered a lot of physical and emotional violence particularly during the transition from the PNDC authoritarianism to the coming into force of the 1992 4th Republican Constitution. Indeed even when the Constitution became the biggest bulwark against arbitrariness and open discrimination and harassment, many NPP people suffered various degrees of injuries ranging from loss of jobs, open destruction of their businesses, detention without trial, name them.
The leaders of the party, in all these provocations preached calm, patience and tolerance. We were made to hold ourselves towards the party’s goals, going forward. We swallowed our pride and managed the situation until the NPP eventually got power in 2000. Between 2001 and 2009, no such internal hooliganism by party people occurred as far as the party is concerned. It does not mean that everybody who had worked for the party since 1992 had a meaningful work to do under the Kufuor administration.
This scenario of party people resorting to violence and intimidation to attract attention and recognition is very sickening and very bad for the respect the world has for the great NPP. The actions of the party members is dwarfing the efforts of the government at filling the deep financial hole created by the NDC by its create, loot and share policy which impoverished this country. The modest achievement of the government within its first year of office has been crowded by the reckless and irresponsible actions of a handful of our compatriots.
There are still thousands of very qualified members of the party who used their time, energies and brains to help the party win the last elections. They have had nothing, they are quiet and minding their own business and finding a decent means of survival. After all, they have survived under the eight year rule of the NDC, and by extension, can survive under NPP, with or without official appointments.
It is very disheartening to see party people breaking the laws of this country and engaging in criminal acts just because they have no jobs. While I admit that the greatest challenge confronting this country is the massive unemployment confronting the youth in particular, resorting to criminal acts to draw attention is unacceptable and an insult to those who find themselves in the same situation but are exercising restraints and hoping into the future.
Those senseless actors in the political arena of vigilantism and hooliganism, coming from both political parties, should know that the decision by the electorate to vote for a particular political party includes how party people organize themselves publicly. One of the reasons the NDC lost the last elections massively was their disrespect towards the public and the open exhibition of hooliganism and lawlessness towards our society.
What has happened to our party and government over the last 10 months in the name of party foot soldiers and vigilantes is unacceptable to the ethics and tenets of the NPP and I am happy to state that the President of the Republic is very livid about these crude acts by crude minds. It is silly and foolish in all senses.
I am very happy to hear the Minister of Interior, being very angry with the Police for not acting in times when crimes have obviously been committed by citizens of this country, be they NDC people or NPP people. As a Service, it is part of the problem of political indiscipline in our society today. Officers in any place where acts of criminalities are committed in the name of political vigilantism must be held responsible if they do not act. Enough of these nonsense in the name of politics. We need to build a sane society with sane minds.
UNDIPLOMATIC DIPLOMACY
I have personally never met Mr. Ayisi Boateng. I remember in the year 2000 when I was the Editor of the Daily Guide, he used to write articles for publication in the paper. I loved his thoughts and published them. I know him as a dye in the wool believer of the NPP and its philosophy, but I do not think he hates our beloved country called Ghana and the people who live in it.
We have lived in this country in the most political difficult times not because we loved the regimes, but we loved Ghana and the people in it the more. We should not allow political differences and the misbehavior of a few people from other camps of the political divide force us to exhibit hatred towards other Ghanaians. We are same people and will remain so.
Mr. Ayisi Boateng did not exhibit diplomacy in his utterances and defence of his speech. All he has done is to put pressure on President Akufo Addo. Sad is the word.
From Kwesi Biney