“There are two main issues of concern. One is the politics of insults. Now, we have gotten to a stage where people say anything regardless of whether it is true or not.
Now my worry is the kind of lesson we are teaching the young ones that are coming up, that you use intemperate language, you subject yourself to verbal violence without regard for the rights of other people” Prof J.E.A. Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana
Ghanaians will never cease to amaze me; in fact I also believe that the individual Ghanaian amazes himself or herself, perhaps that is what makes us a unique people. It is also important to note that being unique comes with its strengths and weaknesses as well, but when the uniqueness of a people moves into the realm of being an enigma, then there is something very wrong somewhere. In this country, very negative things which affect the majority of the poor on a daily basis do not make the headlines until the rich and the politically powerful have tasted just a little bit of what the ordinary person faces on a daily basis, and of which he or she has become used to. Ao, ao Ghana, let me ‘cut’ some mahogany bitters before I continue.
I remember a little over a decade ago, a Parliamentarian was involved in an accident on her way to her constituency. Parliamentary raised the issue and expressed serious concerns about the recklessness on our roads. My senior colleague, Frankie Asare Donkoh, writing in his column ‘Frankly Speaking’ in the Daily Graphic, insinuated that the Honourable House was speaking on road accidents just because a member of that august House had met her death on our roads. If my memory serves me right, he was invited before the Privileges Committee. The reasoning of Frankie Asare Donkoh was that so many people had died on that road and yet the Honourable members of the august House did not comment on it until one of their kind exited this life through the same means.
I have also observed that in this life, it takes the action of one person to make a change. Whether that action will generate positive or negative results for the society depends on the nature of that action and the circumstances which necessitated that action. The past one week has further shown how interesting we are as a people. Before I proceed, please allow me to state about three Akan proverbs and continue from there;
Se Etua Wo Nyonko Ho A, Etua Dua Mu
Odamuo Nye Wo Busuani A, Eye Na Neho Ye Wo Anika
Se fontomfrom Da WOyonko Konho A, Eyewose Bankyi Abaa
The first line literally means that if you are not receiving the pinch, you assume it is child’s play; the second line also literally means that you take delight in the actions of the mad man simply because he is not a relation of yours; while the last line talks about underrating the weight of a traditional drum just because you are not the one carrying it. The three proverbs above almost say the same thing and since proverbs are derived somehow from the socio-cultural lives of a people, they depict the behaviour and thought-pattern of Akans in particular, and Ghanaians in general, towards issues.
Last week, my party member, Mr. John Kuma, was reported to have attributed gayism to the President of the Republic, Prof. God John Evans Atta Mills, on air. This is a very unfortunate accusation. I am very sure it will be very difficult to prove anywhere.
Indeed, even if the allegation is true, which I seriously and sincerely doubt, things that are done in private are very difficult to know and prove unless one or more of the actors decide to spill the beans. That was an unfortunate statement to be made against the President of the Republic. However, I am extremely angry at the hypocritical reaction of the Ghanaian society in respect of this matter.
There is no known person in this country that Ex-President Rawlings never insulted for the 19 years when he was the Head of State of this country. Even when he exited from office, he went ahead to describe then sitting President Kufuor as Atta Aryee, a notorious armed robber in jail, aside all other insults. And in all instances, the NDC, including President Mills, clapped for him and defended him. Prof Mills himself, during the 2008 elections, told the most ethnocentric-laden lie ever told in the political history of this country, against President Kufuor when he stated in a coastal town in the Central Region that because Kufuor was not a Fanti, he had deliberately destroyed all the cold stores along the coast and built new ones in Kumasi. This was a law professor speaking.
We all remember that Dr Tony Aidoo called President Kufuor a dumb man, while Rojo Mettle Nunoo described him as stupid. Victor Smith imputed serious criminality to President Kufuor in a foreign transaction which he claimed amounted to US$5 billion. On and on and on, insults and lies against this personality were churned out to the public for political gains. Nobody in this country saw it fit to complain. The beneficiary of these insults and lies was Prof. Atta Mills. Hypocrisy.
Now let us come to his own contemporary at the University of Ghana and a professional colleague, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Since Prof Mills became the Vice President, the NDC which he now leads has impugned and attempted to destroy the reputation of this gentleman without any evidence whatsoever.
He has been clothed with cocaine, a narcotic substance, the use of which the whole world detests and has severe sanctions for those who engage in it. In the 2008 elections, the NDC, having nothing to say about this man, virtually baptized him with cocaine. In their incompetence as a government, the NDC keeps on insulting this gentleman of courage and conviction. In fact they even insult him for being short, as if he had control over his stature at birth. All short people are good for nothing people, according to the NDC.
Nana Addo has suffered insults from people whose fathers have achieved nothing near Nana Addo’s achievements, yet the society which is fuming today looks on quietly, but when someone said Prof. Mills was gay, the nation is crumbling. Much as I do not associate myself with the President being tagged as gay, in the world of today, it is better to be gay than to be a cocaine user or dealer. Why? Oh, so you do not know? Look, there are countries or parts of countries that see gayism as a right and have legitimized it. The recent addition is the State of New York. So even if President Mills is gay and he is not liked in Ghana, he can migrate to New York and possibly become a Governor of that State.
Now tell me, where on earth will Akufo-Addo be accepted if he is indeed in the business of cocaine? From the simple analysis above, it is very obvious that it is more dangerous to attribute cocaine to someone than say that one is gay. Yes, in Ghana, we are more concerned with moral attributions of wrong doing than criminal attribution of wrong doing. I can understand, but those who are making so much one-sided fuss about the statement against the President should equally know that Nana Addo is also someone’s son, a father (a true one ooo, eno be corner corner, wey Madam say, tofiakwa this piking no go come to this my house), he is a husband well appreciated by the wife over dogs, and a man who has paid his dues to this nation in both private and public lives. When the likes of Kobby Acheampong called him a fruit cake, what was the uproar? Hannah Bissiw, who cannot even attract a man for a husband, calls Nana Addo ‘sexy old fool’. Nobody talks. Hannah Bissiw admits that Nana Addo is sexy, unlike another man whose wife prefers her dogs as her greatest companion, rather than the husband.
He is wrongly accused without any evidence of immorality, on a daily basis, when it is very clear that all his children were brought into this world through proper marriage and not through the back door. Men of God did not have cause to fume, but when homosexuality is attributed to the President, hell breaks loose. It is good that the statement by John Kuma has awakened all of us from our stupor about a phenomenon which has become part of our politics, unfortunate though. It is the wish that every one of us will wake up and engage in decent politicking for the collective good of this country. But if the acerbic tongues continue with their insulting spree, then they should be told that they will be met in equal measure, damn the consequences.
There is no angel in this country and Ghanaians are not looking for one. What Ghanaians are looking for is competence, vision and implementable policies which will positively impact on the lives of the majority of our people. President Mills should not pay lip service on the matters of insult; he should be seen to be honestly concerned about it.
By Kwasi Biney