We are excited about the prospects of the Commission Of Enquiry into the disturbances which rocked a section of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency bye-election.
Being the first such effort at unearthing the cause or causes of bye-election violence, it would afford us, as a people, the opportunity of learning how to avoid such anomalies in the future.
Although we have not heard anything from the Presidency as to whether or not the Commission would extend its scope to cover other violent bye-elections in the country, members would nonetheless find a way of stretching their necks beyond the subject under review.
Some persons have always been responsible for the bye-election violence, having mastered the art of doing so over the years. Recent remarks, boastful about this unenviable pedigree speak volumes regarding this.
We are encouraging all who have anything that would assist the Commission in the discharge of its assignment not to hesitate to do so. It is a national duty that nobody should turn their backs on.
There are many ways of building a nation. Contributing towards the elimination of tendencies which drag the nation backwards is one of them. It is against this backdrop that we fret over the National Democratic Congress (NDC) announcement that they would not cooperate with the Commission.
It is amazing that those who want power to deliver ‘good governance’ would put up this conduct which is anything but patriotic.
If the NDC genuinely seek the good of the country they would not put up this unseemly conduct. Making elections, especially, bye-elections safe and in conformity with best standards should be the prerogative of all Ghanaians including NDC members.
Sitting on the fence as the NDC have served notice, would not serve the interest of building a virile democratic culture in the country.
Elections without violence birth democracies but when these are fraught with the breaking of bones and therefore scare away citizens from voting, then something has gone wrong and must be rectified.
The empanelling of this Commission; the first such attempt by a government in the history of this country to rectify bye-election violence, should be supported by all who claim to love the motherland.
Those who show the kind of antagonism the NDC is flaunting must bow their heads in shame. Their earlier call for a probe into the circumstances surrounding what happened in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency bye-election is turning out, after all, to be a sham. Perhaps they turned to that call thinking the President would not heed to it. Now that the President has done otherwise, they are hypocrites who toe the NDC line.
We have confidence in the caliber of personalities making up the Commission to live up to their billing. Personalities of this pedigree cannot fail the nation. Their work, especially the recommendation segment, would put paid to the violence fraught bye-elections this country has witnessed over the years with nobody bothering to do anything about them.
If they must be subpoenaed, if they have something valuable for the Commission, such persons should not be left out.