For a while now some foreign diplomats have made our local politics part of their remit. They wade into our national affairs contrary to diplomatic protocols and decency in a manner which leaves much to be desired.
We recall how verbal diarrhoea afflicted some of our friends who are representatives of their countries to the extent that they engage in debating the pros and cons of our public polices, making one wonder whether diplomatic language did not feature in their orientation session when they joined the foreign service.
Last year the British High Commissioner to Ghana decided to wade into the arrest of Barker Vormawor under the pretext that as a British citizen she was obliged to defend his rights. Apparently she was not adequately briefed about the backlash a predecessor suffered in the 1990s.
The NDC then under JJ Rawlings was not happy about the interference of the Deputy High Commissioner of Britain and called him names. The same NDC now under John Mahama celebrated the German Ambassador when he berated the Nana Akufo-Addo government for economic mismanagement.
We walk you down memory lane again but this time just a short while ago when President Akufo-Addo dismissed critics of his government by making it clear the freedom of speech and of the press is not under attack, and that even foreign diplomats contrary to their ethics have found their voices to meddle in our internal affairs.
The NDC and their collaborators in the media, civil society and academia “scolded” the President for the assertion. They had forgotten that he was once a Foreign Minister, of course with an outstanding stature.
Buoyed by the support he received from the NDC and their apparatchiks the last time, the German Ambassador last week decided to wade into the arrest of Prof Frimpong-Boateng and touting his credentials during the Green Ghana Day when the Ambassador invited him to his residence. Ghanaians know Prof Frimpong-Boateng very well and his contributions towards Ghana’s development.
The facelift of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the establishment of the National Cardiothoracic Centre are testaments to his efforts at national development.
In spite of these achievements, Prof Frimpong-Boateng is not above the law and he should desist from politicising the issues surrounding his arrest and the report he issued on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) that he chaired, and cooperate with the Special Prosecutor to get to the bottom of the issues. We urge him not to be shouting wolf when the Special Prosecutor knocks at his door if there are no cobwebs in his house.
We have always asked Ghanaians to refrain from the extreme partisanship, the name-calling and the smear campaign so that collectively we deal with the challenges of development and live up to the President’s mantra that we should be citizens and not spectators.
The NDC and its collaborators are displaying so much contradictions in their narratives that it is clear their only interest is the 2024 polls even if they have to resort to outright lies and misinformation to achieve that objective. They must be reminded that Ghanaians are more discerning now and remember their record before they exited government on January 7, 2017. Ghanaians no longer suffer from forgetfulness as Mahama ridiculed them while he was President.