I love travelling down memory lane because it is down memory lane that one would be reminded of his sordid pasts and glorious moments.
If we continue to move along without looking back, we may slip along the way and the consequences would be unbearable.
It is not for nothing that history was thought in our schools as an examinable subject. In fact, if you fail in History, you are not awarded the Middle School Leaving Certificate (MLSC), a certificate that could even earn you a job as a Pupil Teacher. God days are gone!
In 1992 when Chairman Rawlings put off his military fatigue and donned civilian clothes to contest the general election, the UP political tradition metamorphosed to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and joined the race with the late Professor Adu Boahen as their Presidential Candidate.
Those were the days of blood and iron as Rawlings’ military regime was in power and so with the support of the military it took those who were ready to put their noses on the grindstone to contest as Parliamentary Candidates.
Fear camped everywhere and the threat of death could be seen wherever one went. Santana, the Texas Cowboy was in town and on the prowl, brandishing his pistol. ‘Who born dog’, he always shouted us down, after smoking his trademark marijuana.
As the date for the filing of nomination papers of Parliamentary Candidates was coming to a close, some NPP candidates were virtually begged to contest in the name of the party. People were simply afraid to join the race because of the fear of the soldiers who were solidly behind Chairman Rawlings and went on the rampage at the slightest provocation.
The NPP struggled before getting Parliamentary Candidates to run. There was this constituency in the then Brong Ahafo Region where the leadership of the NPP had to quickly dispatch a motor rider to get a teacher who was in his tomato farm to go to Sunyani, the regional capital to file his papers in order to beat the deadline.
He was quickly taken to a photographer’s shop where he was asked to put off his dirty farm working gear, given a coat and bowtie to wear with his bushy afro hair and Osama Bin Laden type of drooping bear for his picture to be taken (Don’t laugh).
The NPP boycotted the Parliamentary Election after the Independent Electoral Commission openly ‘stole’ the Presidential Election in favour of Mr. Rawlings.
In parliament, we had 192 NDC elected Parliamentarians and only 8 PNC elected Parliamentarians. The 1992 Parliament was therefore, almost packed with NDC Parliamentarians so they had their own way to do whatever they wanted to do. Loans were contracted at random and draconian laws were passed without any opposition in parliament. The NPP did not organize any demonstration when the party boycotted the Parliamentary Election. The best that the party did was to compile a book titled: “Stolen Verdict”. The forty –year-old guy who is making ugly noises in today’s Parliament was barely nine years old then.
Haven ‘stolen’ the 1992 General Election, Mr. Rawlings dug in and sharpened his tricks. This time around the NPP came back despite the continuous bullying and fielded Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor as the Presidential Candidate in the 1996 General Election. The NPP did their best under the circumstances that the party found itself and was able to grab 62 parliamentary seats even though Kufuor lost his presidential bid. Notable among the sixty two NPP Parliamentarians were Nana Addo Dankwa Akufu-Addo, the late J.H Mensah, Hackman Owusu Agyemang, mercurial Hawa Yacubu and other hardened politicians from the NPP stock. That was when Ghanaians started to feel the beauty of democratic dispensation. Issues were debated dispassionately and the few NPP Parliamentarians put the government on her toes for the good of the country. To me the 1996 Parliament of Ghana was the best.
From 2000 to 2016, Ghana’s parliaments were a toast in Africa and many countries wished they could have the same parliaments in their respective countries. Opposition Parliamentarians argued Bills presented to Parliament with circumspect devoid of polemics and destructive criticisms. We the citizens who voted them to Parliament sat beside and enjoyed their performances. The 2020 Parliament came to throw everything that we gained in our democratic dispensation overboard.
It seems to me the opposition NDC Parliamentarians do not understand the meaning of hung Parliament. To them, a hung parliament means the opposition MPs have the opportunity to bring down the government by kicking against anything good that the government brings to Parliament for the good of the people except what inures to the benefit of Parliamentarians. Poor souls!
When former President Kufuor was in power, some NDC functionaries, including the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, Kwasi Ahwoi, Sherry Ayittey who is now the 1st Vice Chairperson of the NDC, Tsatsu Tsikata, Kwame Pepra, Sippah Yankey, Alhaji Ibrahim Adam, the late Victor Selomey etc. were arranged before court of competent jurisdiction to answer charges like willfully causing financial loss to the state among others.
The then NDC Parliamentarians allowed the law to work to full length without boycotting parliament to picket at the court.
At the end of the day the court acquitted and discharged Sherry Ayittey, Kwasi Ahwoi and Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings. As for Ibrahim Adam, Sippah Yankey, Kwamen Pepra, Victor Selomey, Tsatsu Tsikata, they were jailed.
Apart from Tsatsu Tsikata who later appealed against his conviction when the NDC came to power and was released from jail, the rest are still walking with the Jailbird tag firmly fixed on their lapel coats. Sadly, Victor Selomey died before his prison term ended. No NDC opposition Parliamentarian ever raised his or her voice against the rule of law. Today, Abuga Pele and Asongtaaba are languishing in jail but we have not heard the voice of a single NDC parliamentarian on the issue. So far, the worst opposition MPs that we ever had in this 4th Republican democratic dispensation is the current one, led by Ato Forson.
Gyekye Quayson, Collins Dauda and Ato Forson himself are facing the law courts for allegedly breaching the laws of the land and look at what the current NDC opposition Parliamentarians are doing?
They did swear to always boycott Parliament in order to go to court to give moral support to their colleagues and they have done that. Any sense in that? And we have seasoned lawyers among when who are supposed to know better! When you are voted to Parliament to enact laws for the good people of this country, you are rather undermining the laws of the land. Are you honorable or dishonorable Members of Parliament? Are you paid with the taxpayers’ money or what?
Are you picketing at the court to bully the judge, to coerce him or apply undue influence? Somebody out there should tell me the answer. I have pain in my heart and tears on my pillow. Cry, the beloved country!!!
By Eric Bawah