For the sake of politics otherwise sane people have left the bathhouse chasing those who came for their clothes and doing so naked. The otherwise sane persons do not care what onlookers will say about them.
That is the prevailing picture of our political terra firma.
To some extent, the behaviour of some politicians expose their low level of credibility as they say anything at all to discredit their opponents without fact-checking their claims.
What is worrying is that those who engage in these deliberate lies and misinformation can be regarded as part of the leading lights of our society. The situation has been exacerbated by the proliferation of the media where the panelists and journalists are only interested in freedom of speech but not being responsible for their actions.
The hosts of programmes on radio and television show open bias by looking on helplessly while politicians insult their opponents, including the President, under the pretext that they have failed to fulfil their promises.
Check the media space in recent times across the country where the people are on the neck of the government to fix their roads and other infrastructure and you will feel embarrassed listening to the tone of their appeal to government.
Our President is the figurehead and soul of the nation but some people for the sake of politics will smear and call him names when things appear not to be going well.
We ask all Ghanaians to pause for a moment and ponder over these issues. They must remember that no President takes office with a bottomless pit of money to undertake the development of the country. The President does so with our taxes but let us ask ourselves whether in Ghana every income earner pays tax. Apart from workers in the formal sector and some businesses, the rest of income earners like traders do not pay taxes. Look at the level of housing construction in Ghana and again ask yourself whether you pay property tax. If these questions are answered and Ghanaians come to the realisation that the road to development lies in our obligation as responsible and patriotic citizens, the status quo would alter and expressions would be made responsibly.
Let us digress a bit and go back to the need for responsible utterances on the media landscape.
Ordinarily we would not have wasted space on Mr. Sam Pee Yalley, a leading member of the NDC for his claim that the Vice President holds a British passport.
Sam Pee Yalley is a trained journalist butpolitics has blinded him so much thathis focus and direction have let him abandon the principles of journalism as he rides the waves of filthy partisan politics. But for politics becoming too cheap for any person at all laying claim to it, the likes of Sam Pee Yalley will be called to order by the NDC for making unfounded allegations against the Vice President of the Republic.
We can say that Sam Pee Yalley as a student of journalism ever came across eminent English jurist Lord Dening’s dictum on “ Publish and be damned” but if he has not then we recommend it to him so that he can learn useful lessons about freedom of speech and press.
When people intensify their rights to seek redress for defamation, the likes of Sam Pee Yalley will be responsible next time. Let us encourage healthy competition in our body politic but we should avoid deliberate lies and smear campaign.
Sam Pee Yalley come again or if you have nothing to say because you have goofed, eat the humble pie and apologise to the Vice President like the mouse saying “I have taken a bite but I won’t chew it”.