Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu
Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu’s remarks during her book launch last week touched on the denigrating of leaders by a section of the citizenry.
It is such a critical observation that we think well-meaning Ghanaians should talk about with a view to remedying this un-Ghanaian attitude, which has recently gained roots in our society.
Both Abrahamic faiths of Christianity and Islam, to which most Ghanaians adhere,
uphold high moral values which include respect for leaders and elders in society.
These values are enshrined in our local social order regardless of which part of the country we belong.
It is important to note that this moral degeneration started with the advent of the entrenchment of the freedom of expression and now propelled by social media.
It is the abuse of this freedom which has led to this state of affairs. We are constrained to recall the recent incident in which some SHS girls up North, recorded a video in which they spewed unprintable invectives on the President. We must state that these young girls could not have descended to such moral low without learning from some irresponsible adults of which there is no dearth in today’s Ghana.
A society in which leaders are denigrated the way it is happening in this country should undertake an introspection of itself because, a social ailment has afflicted it.
If we fail to stop this moral degeneration, we might reach a stage where we would be unable to do anything about it. One of the repercussions of such a state is that respectable personalities would shy away from taking up public office to bring their experiences to bear on national development for fear of being subjected to invectives by youth, the age of their grand children.
On the altar of politics and freedom of expression, political novices, while doing the bidding of their paymasters, insult the leadership of the country and institutions without blinking an eye.
From the judiciary to the leadership of the faiths and traditional rulers, nobody is safe from the invectives of the youth with acidic tongues but shallow heads. Some of them have had their turns in the court of law already for defaming innocent persons who have worked hard to earn their statuses in society.
A few days ago, at the congress of the opposition NDC, hell broke loose and shots were fired, another level of indiscipline to hit our political space.
Leaders of our political parties should exhibit responsible leadership by steering away from encouraging the youth to not only insult others, but avoid spawning mayhem during such important activities such as party congresses to preserve our democracy.
The bad tonguing of our leaders and the kind of mayhem which was enacted during the NDC congress are inter-related. Both are by and large encouraged by bad politicians holding important positions in their parties.
Our democracy would be negatively impacted when we allow the denigration of our leaders and the enactment of indiscipline at party political activities, to remain cornerstones of our party activities.