Splendid And Outstanding

Tamale was at its best. Splendid and full of colour should be an apt description of Tamale yesterday as the city hosted the rest of Ghana to commemorate the country at 62.

The people of the city enjoyed the dividends of peace. The President would not have taken the commemoration of the country’s independence to this part of our country were it not for the prevailing peace.

We said it in a previous editorial that the President’s decision was informed by the restored peace in Dagbon and we were not wrong. We have taken note of the announcement of developments that would come the way of Dagbon following the burial of the hatchets by the previously feuding members of the same ethnic grouping.

Chieftaincy, as the President observed, has been the source of most disputes in the country and we are encouraged that the restored peace in Dagbon would provide an appropriate template for the Chieftaincy Minister with some alterations as he sets out to tackle other seeming intractable chieftaincy disputes across the country as the President said.

We anticipated a loaded speech when the President addresses the nation from the Northern Region and we were right.

We were elated when he touched the subject of political violence which, as he put it, is a source of shame for politicians whenever it strikes in the country during, especially, elections – the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency bye-election violence being a recent case in point.

There is no point spilling blood whenever we go as individuals to cast votes during elections. It is unnecessary the level of fear and panic which grips the country each time elections approach.

It is for this reason that the President’s invitation to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to come dialogue with their New Patriotic Party (NPP) counterparts makes sense and constitutes a step in the right direction.

Indeed no president has ever taken that tangent to address what has become a feature of our democracy when elections are due.

Such primitive approach to politics is unfortunate and must be eschewed without further delay. We are pleased that the subject has found a place on the public space and being discussed among political elites.

For a President who has scored many firsts, this is yet another one of his novelties which add another feather to his cap.

The conditions being put up by the NDC at this time should not crop up as we seek a way out of the nonsense and criminality of vigilantism. Political parties should disabuse their minds of reliance on thugs to win elections.

President Akufo-Addo has cast the first stone by stating that his party does not need the engagement of thugs to win elections.

Let the NDC, one of the two dominant parties in the country’s politics, do same by telling Ghanaians that they too do not need thugs to win elections and voila, we would have eliminated the use of good-for-nothing thugs who are ready to do the bidding of the highest bidder as part of our campaign architecture.

Ghana at 62 has long come of age and should eliminate this spectre of vigilantism from our political lexicon once and for all.  Over to the NDC       whose boot-for-boot and covert and overt operations project for 2020 is criminal and unpatriotic.

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