For the umpteenth time, we are taking exception to the smelly ethnocentric and religious bigotry of some desperate politicians on our political space. Such utterances do not add to the progress of this beautiful country but rather threaten its cohesiveness built through the blood and sweat of our forebears.
It is lamentable when those who seek to lead this country do not know her well. Their total lack of knowledge of the demography of the North makes them think that part of the country is one chunk of people speaking one language, bound by one culture and belonging to one faith. And these are persons who think the mantle of leadership of this great country be handed over to them.
Why would you want the leadership nod from your compatriots when you do not even know the country you are promising milk and honey?
The internal elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its attendant nuances have exposed the fault lines of individuals who think they possess the attributes of leadership in our geopolitical setting.
Leadership is about those who possess ideas which can trigger transformation in our special circumstance where we still have a long road to traverse in our search for the Promised Land.
A leader thought out the importance of digitisation and how countries which lag behind in this new trend shall remain stagnant.
Today, the old face of losses being encountered by state agencies such as Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) among others are being addressed with less human face. Someone thought this out and laid it before the country. He was mocked but today people are able to purchase credit for their electricity, water and enjoying the dividends of mobile phone interoperability. These have enhanced the performance of the state kitty; these are leaders we seek for this country.
Leadership in our country and other places is not about how much ‘showdowns’ and vitriolic one can spew out, but ideas which can change the lots of the people.
It is a mark of primitiveness and backwardness when so-called leaders relish such references as ‘slaves and strangers’ who should not be countenanced in the politics of political groupings which exist in consonance with the Electoral Laws of the country.
We are constrained to recall once more the decision of our first President, Kwame Nkrumah, to promulgate the Avoidance of Discrimination Act of 1957 which sought to, besides ensuring a cohesive nation with a single destiny, throw overboard the canker of bigotries.
They are slaves and hail from the Northern part of the country and therefore do not merit leading the nation would only be spewed by a politician who is shallow in his thinking.
We should as a people bound by one objective show unalloyed detestation for such bigotries.
Such destructive remarks should not be allowed in the media, especially on radio, considering how incendiary they can be and therefore constitute national security threats.
As we work towards protecting free speech, measures rolled out to check such misguided utterances will not only be misconstrued but abused to stifle the freedom we seek to protect in the interest of democracy by bad persons who find themselves at the helm.