Election year has “born” many prophets of doom. These characters called purveyors of “aforkunya” in Ewe are on the prowl beating war drums. They include a character and octogenarian like Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe who once said Ghana was ripe for a coup and another joker, Okudzeto Ablakwa who also claimed that it was time for the Ghana version of the Kenyan protests.
The NDC has no campaign message. They have decided to beat the war drums or be prophets of doom forecasting or predicting hopelessness or bad omen, which the people from the Volta Region where Okudzeto Ablakwa and Fifi Kwetey hail from call, “aforkunya”.
As for Alex Segbefia, who hails from the area but cannot speak Ewe, he can be pardoned for his lack of implications of the doom his brothers are preaching. However, for the NDC hoodlums beating the war drums, we urge them to look critically at the destruction and loss of lives in Ukraine and Gaza. And if they are really the patriotic citizens, and not motivated by personal and selfish gains, they would rethink their call for the Ghana version of the Kenyan protests.
The Akans say “sÉ› wo nim owuo a hwÉ› ndaa.” Nonetheless, we can assure those calling on the youth to take arms against the established order that they may not escape the marksmen’s bullets. Nobody disputes the fact that Ghana is going through challenging times, but the answer does not lie in Okudzeto Ablakwa’s wishful thinking for a Ghana version of the Kenyan protests.
We remind Ghanaians that the economic difficulties are not peculiar to Ghana. The meltdown is a global challenge. The solution lies in a call to action by all the people. We must rally in order to engender the spirit of nation building. That is why we must not embrace nation wreckers who come under the guise of a mission to rescue the nation. Also, we must be wary of the NDC who are storming marketplaces, the communities and lorry terminals to incite the people against the Akufo-Addo government.
The irony of the posture of these characters is that they are cowards who would take to their heels on the sound of the hunter’s gun. Another contradiction comes from the camp of the opposition NDC whose leaders and members, while fighting for votes, are calling on the people to derail the democratic order. That is why the leader of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama, perhaps out of frustration to gain power, thinks the time is conducive for a coup d’etat. His apparatchiks such as Johnson Asiedu Nketia and Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, National Chairman and General Secretary respectively of the NDC, joined John Mahama in demanding a regime change through unorthodox means.
These same apostles of probity and accountability, who have no patience for democratic ethos, claim the revolutionary government of the PNDC birthed the Fourth Republican Constitution.
In 2019, John Mahama served notice that, “no political party in Ghana can unleash violence than the NDC”. He told party supporters at Adaklu in the Volta Region in the aftermath of the Ayawaso West Wuogon byelection in Accra that, “I want to sound a caution that the NDC has a revolutionary root and when it comes to unleashing violence no one can beat us to that,” saying that, “the NDC has had to tame itself over the years because of the fact that it gave birth to the current democracy being enjoyed in the country”. This is mere rhetorics because the actions of John Mahama and his cohorts do not convince us that the NDC believes in democratic principles.
When it suits John Mahama and his supporters, he would reiterate their false belief in democratic ethos by contradicting himself and his party with remarks such as, “violence, intimidation can’t win elections,” and “we are experts in unleashing violence…beware.” Fellow Ghanaians, do you trust John Mahama and his NDC following their display of contradictions on the political landscape? That is why John Mahama would present himself as the “messiah” but at the same time preach the use of unorthodox means to achieve his rescue mission mantra. The NDC after many years of democratic practice in the Fourth Republic still has a very strong taste and appetite for a coup.