According to the Daily Graphic , the seven-member trustee board would ‘formulate policies which will address the concerns of party faithful who have suffered all forms of violence and deprivation in the cause of serving the party.’
Also at the same function, the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, added, ‘What we are doing today demonstrates that the NDC is an organization worth supporting and dying for’.
During the ceremony, a few NDC ‘heroes’ recounted their stories. Some talked in moving terms about how they were injured serving the NDC while at least one described being fired from a job because he was an NDC member.
There was no word about involving law enforcement agencies in righting the grievous wrongs that had been suffered by these heroes. Not one word. The choice of ‘heroes’ was also interesting. The NDC could have chosen people like Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and former President Agyewodin Rawlings who have toiled selflessly to build the party, as well as any of the thousands of people who have built the NDC while following the law and harming no one. But they did not want such heroes. Such heroes would not have been inspirational enough. Instead, they wanted heroes who exemplified the kind of behaviour that is clearly against the law and anti-democratic.
Why? Is it because that is how they believe elections can be won?
How can the party of the ‘Asomdwehene’ be inciting violence by honouring those who have been involved in violence?
Now, it is commendable for a party to honour those who have served it well. However, all Ghanaians who love democracy should be concerned about this NDC ‘Heroes Fund’.
In the light of the description of the purposes of the fund, as well as the examples that were touted by the NDC leaders, is this really a ‘Heroes Fund’ or a ‘Villains Fund’?
Were all those who were being celebrated really heroes, or villains? Instead of being victims, were some of them actually perpetrators of the very violence they are pretending to be victims of? I ask these questions because of our political history. Will the establishment of this fund, designed to help people appreciate that the NDC is an organization worth dying for, really reduce violence in our elections? Certainly not.
The NPP has complained about violence in our politics since 1992.
We complained about Kumbungu. We complained about Volta Region in 2008. We complained about Agbogbloshie, Tamale, Akwatia and Chereponi. And nobody was held accountable for any of these violent attacks on people who were doing nothing more than trying to exercise their democratic rights.
To be fair, the complaints have not only come from our side. The NDC too has complained about Ashanti and other places. The point is that there is too much unnecessary violence against those who are only trying to exercise their democratic rights. When there are elections, mothers should not be worried about sending their sons and daughters out into the streets.
Even though we are involved in democracy, there appears to be too much talk of dying.
Even while the NDC shrilly condemned ‘All die be die’, Asiedu Nketia admitted that one of the goals of the ‘Heroes Fund’ was to ‘demonstrate that the NDC is —- worth dying for’ . One should respectfully ask the NDC scribe whether maybe, in the process of dying for the NDC, some of the men and women aspiring to be heroes might harm or kill others belonging to different parties?
Another disturbing aspect of the NDC ceremony was the total absence of any commitment to law enforcement. As a party that has experienced both opposition and government and indeed may do so again, the NDC should have, consistent with its professed commitment to making Ghana better, strived for better and more peaceful elections.
They could have pledged undying commitment to helping their maimed heroes get justice in our courts but they did not.
They could have pledged to collaborate with the security forces to reduce violence in our politics but they did not.
They could have pledged to work with the other parties and the Electoral Commission to reduce violence in our politics but they did not.
They could have apologized for sending people to intimidate the Electoral Commission in 2008 but they did not. Â Â Continued…Â Â Â
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