Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
There is no dearth of news on the political terrain in the country, and with limited space at the disposal of editorial boards, the task of what to tackle becomes challenging.
Even more challenging is the case where a subject is before our law courts, in which case we must tread carefully lest we breach the standards; and there is one such case on the bosom of our judges.
Be it as it may, last week and the current have been laden with so much to deal with.
One of the flagbearer aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia won the hearts of many Ghanaians, both within his party and outside it, when out of humility he pleaded with NPP supporters and by extension floating voters to forgive the past administration for not meeting their expectations in certain regards.
The Akufo-Addo administration of which he was a part did a lot in the area of good governance and infrastructural development. In spite of these, however, being a human institution and therefore not without blemishes, the need to plead for forgiveness where toes were stepped on should be regarded as a mark of maturity and good leadership.
The recent request for forgiveness where the expectations of the people were not met should not be tendentiously misconstrued and hanged as some seek to do within the party.
Many NPP supporters were incensed about some interventions during the previous regime, as did floating voters. This accounted for the record number of NPP supporters who refused to go and cast their votes, a protest refusal if you like.
The debt rescheduling initiative was one of such programmes which had Ghanaians, especially pensioners, complaining in spite of the many feats chalked, one being the famous Free Senior High School (SHS), which remains unparalleled in terms of social intervention.
In one of his post-office discourses, former President Akufo-Addo acknowledged the concern expressed by many, especially pensioners, about the mandatory haircut. His remorseful remark triggered a conversation among party supporters and victims of the haircut.
It is worrisome therefore when begging for forgiveness on behalf of the NPP becomes a matter of political polemics when indeed there is a plethora of bad governance being committed by those at the helm today.
One of the acts of humility from former President Akufo-Addo was when in the face of public furore when he uttered ‘all die be die’, he told Ghanaians if that had touched their sensibilities he was sorry.
It was such a show of humility which calmed tempers, and to date the subject is hardly remembered. To err is human, and to forgive is divine.
Expressing apology cannot be equated with knocking oneself down, ignoring the fallouts from stepping on toes of the governed by the governors is.