“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
Nelson Mandela
“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
Noam Chomsky
THE DEMONSTRATORS displayed placards majority of which read: “No Mahama, No peace!” They were at Buipe, at the Electoral Commission headquarters, Accra, they were at Ketu South; at Kumasi. Why? Mahama had won the election, and the EC had stolen the verdict for Nana Addo! Ebei!
Why not give the verdict to Mahama whether he won or not, for peace to prevail? They remind us of the Twi proverb: “Nsutafo didimee a na Mampongfo ho ato won” (After the people of Nsuta have had their fill, Mampong people can have their peace). Have you forgotten the “origin” of NDC? Mahama will tell you: “NDC was born out of revolution and, therefore, not a party of cowards.” Are NPP “afraid men”? NPP seeks peace, but democracy does not work like that. We see some people frown and pout their lips.
Who does not know Martin Luther King’s dictum: “No justice, no peace?” It was after the murder of Michael Griffith, a 23-year-old Trinidadian immigrant, had been assaulted by white youths at Howard Beach in New York City and got killed. Martin Luther King had stated: “There can be no peace without justice, and there can be no justice without peace.”
All of us want justice. “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is erroneously attributed to Voltaire, but it was rather Beatrice Evelyn Hall, the author of the 1906 biography, ‘The Friends of Voltaire’ who used the phrase to depict Voltaire’s stand against the burning of someone else’s book. Voltaire had thought the author was an idiot, but believed he had a right to publish his silly and misguided thought! Why, the 1992 Constitution allows for freedom of expression and the right of persons to assembly (see chapter 5). This is the right which allowed Kwesi Pratt to do the ‘one-man’ demonstration “free” to take the picture of Hotel Waa-waa in July 2005 during the Kufuor regime. Then, Asiedu-Nketia reduced it for the “ordinary man’s” understanding: “Any fool can go to court.” The citizens have a right, but they also have an obligation, don’t they? Why should anyone burn tyres on the streets? Why should anyone destroy public property in the course of demonstration – the property built from our common taxes?
Mahama wants to set a record: an Assemblyman, a Member of Parliament, a Deputy Minister, a Minister, once a Vice President, once a President. Then once a former President, then he wants the record of being a President who was voted into power after being defeated in 2016 election. Haba! And the noble words of the Omanhene of Techiman to Mahama!
Mahama wants to be a modern day Napoleon Bonaparte who after having been overthrown and exiled to Elba under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, escaped from there in May, 1814, and returned to France, plunging France into a useless 100 Days War.
But the mayhem at the Manhyia Police Station was too close to the Manhyia Palace for comfort. A typical Asante will fight back to resist any attempt at disturbing the peace of our King. Let the world take note! It is Asante Kotoko, Asantehene and Fufuo! Ali Mazrui describes Kwame Nkrumah as having started his political life as a democrat and ended as a dictator. The same man describes Rawlings as having started as a dictator and ended as a democrat. Which accolade does Mahama prefer?
When shall we live past the revolutionary nonsense of 1979 and 1981? Don’t behave like Gbevlo-Lartey who eats, drinks and dreams of nothing but “revolution”. How many times do we need to repeat this? And you know “Revolutions devour (eat) their own children”. The French Revolution consumed the very persons who began it. After the Revolutionists had sent the King and Marie Antoinette to the guillotine, in the “Reign of Terror”, the Committee for Public Safety was established led by Robespierre with great hopes. Jacques Danton on his way to the guillotine told Robespierre, “You will follow us shortly. Your house shall be beaten down and sowed with salt”. In the 1790s, the French used to say: “A l’example de Saturne, la revolution devore ses enfants.” Or Trotsky, the Ukrainian revolutionary who sided with the Mensheviks against Lenin’s Bolsheviks; he played a key role in the February 1917 Revolution which brought an end to the Tsarist monarchy. After his role in the Red Army and the Fourth International, he was expelled from the Soviet Union and assassinated by Ramon Mercadet in Mexico City in 1940.
We in Ghana (now) have chosen the democratic path. Plato in ‘The Republic’ says: “Those who don’t know must learn from those who do.” Even great America has failed the test of democracy with Donald Trump deceiving himself and his people that he had won the elections. Trump has brought unnecessary disgrace to America’s democratic credentials with his populistic approach after the contest with Joe Biden.
How did Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela win the hearts and respect of all of us in Africa? After all the struggles, including 27 years in Robben Island Prison, he came out to lead South Africa to true independence in 1994, then retired from politics in 1999, after only one term of office. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, our brother-in-law, crowned himself ‘Life President’ after gaining independence in 1980 in Zimbabwe, and forced to resign in 2017. What honour did he have?
Thomas Hobbes in his poem ‘Leviathan’ in 1651 describes the natural state of mankind (the state before a central government is formed) where he outlines the “incommodities” of life in a pre-organised society (natural state of man): “Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of warre, where every man is enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them… no place for industry, … no culture, no navigation… no commodious building… no account of time, no Arts, no Letters, no Society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short.”
The editorial of Ghanaian Times of December 12, 2020 captures this: “In pre-civilisation era, people lived in small, simple societies… Today, we live in what has been described as complex society… Therefore, political parties are formed to contest elections to acquire that sovereign will… We, therefore, appeal to both leadership and supporters of political parties that took part in the just-ended general election to show cool heads in whatever path they would follow to have their grievances resolved…”
Every person who took part in the elections sought to win. Losing could be bitter. Look at the number of crack politicians; is that the end of the world for them? So, do those shouting “No Mahama, No peace” want to tell us Mahama owns Ghana? Does Ghana owe Mahama his sustenance? What about those of us who have never held any political appointment – fools, idiots, lazy people…?
Africanus Owusu-Ansah
africanusowusu1234@gmail.com