Prof Attafuah
Criminologist and Law Lecturer, Prof Ken Agyemang Attafuah, says the comments that got New Patriotic Party (NPP) activist John Kumah into trouble with the law Wednesday were distasteful, scandalous and lacked logic and decency.
He said he was scandalised by the comments of John Kumah who suggested in a radio discussion that President J.E.A. Mills had reportedly been sharing a room with one of his advisers, Ato Ahwoi, leaving his wife to seek solace in pets – dogs.
“I was utterly dismayed. I found the comments to be extremely distasteful and detestable. It’s simply reprehensible; I was scandalized as a Ghanaian,” he told Joy FM Super Morning Show host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah.
In his opinion if the president spends all his time with his lieutenants, it could be taken to mean that he was working extremely hard to develop the nation instead of the horrendous inference made by the NPP youth activist.
Prof. Attafuah is encouraged by the president’s call on the police release John Kumah who was arrested for making the offensive comments.
The Young Patriots of the NPP, of which John Kumah is a coordinator, served notice a few weeks ago that the NPP would no longer sit by while NDC spokespersons ran amok and denigrated the NPP’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.
In keeping with that, he, on Saturday last week, responded to a member of the communications team of the governing party who suggested that some leading members of the NPP were gay, saying the president had been reported to be sharing the same room with an adviser and asked whether that meant the president was also gay.
He was arrested for those comments butwas later released. He told journalists following his release that the NPP would not be the first purveyor of political insults on its opponents but maintained that members of the Young Patriots will match the NDC boot for boot in response to unpalatable comments they make about the NPP flag-bearer and other leaders of the opposition party.
But Prof Attafuah believes the premise is wrong.
“Head for head, booth for booth, should be on the frontlines of political party campaigning and activism, that is, going house-to-house, head-to-head, trying to talk to people, trying to get people to turn out and come and vote for one candidate or political party. It is not about exchanging insults; it is not about firing back at the political opponent who uses foul language; we cannot continue to foul the air,” he said.
The human rights activist does not think that “conjuring insults, making up horrendous stories to tell about opponents to score political points is the way to go for our republic.”
As citizens of a democratic country, Ghanaians must, he said, demonstrate tolerance, decency, magnanimity and forgiveness towards each other.
“Insulting each other is not one of [the characteristics of a democratic people] and I think that our politicians need to redefine the focus; the focus ought to be on doing the right thing – mobilizing votes – not mobilizing arsenals of insults and hurling them at opponents,” he counseled.
He rejected criticism that the police were chasing opponents of the government and leaving armed robbers and perpetrators of other violent crimes at large, stressing the police have a duty both to tackle violent crime as well as ensure that people whose comments have the tendency to breach the peace are dealt with in accordance with the law.
What the issue is, he surmised, should be whether the police are balanced in their use of the coercive machinery of the state in pursuing alleged perpetrators of crimes against the state.
Asked whether he thought the police were balanced and fair in the execution of their duties, the Criminologist said, “I think in all fairness the police have not come across, to date, as being balanced in their approach. I am particularly referring to the situation where NDC party activists somewhere in the north were engaging in all kinds of lawlessness, illegalities; closing down offices, chasing out DCEs, going on the rampage and destroying things and the police looking on as if they were hamstrung and I think on one occasion a police officer actually said that this had political colouration and therefore he was not going to act until His Excellency the president directed action should be taken.”
He said the comments that provoked John Kumah to make his unfortunate remarks could also have the tendency to disturb the peace and the person who uttered them ought to have been invited by the police as well.
“I think the police ought to act with equanimity, with balance in order to invoke and increase public confidence in the sense of fairness of the police as a neutral institution dedicated to the enforcement of the rule of law in this country regardless of what political orientation a particular person belongs to when they fall foul of the law or when the police believe or have reason to believe that the person has fallen foul of the law without looking at their political colours,” he stated.
Prof. Attafuah said the creeping culture of the politics of insults will only abate if political leaders stop rewarding their supporters for insulting their opponents. He believes if political party leaders sanction their supporters who make uncomplimentary comments about their opponents, the practice will stop.
He said the media must also live up to their responsibilities by reining in their guests and challenging them to some of the things they say on their platforms.
Source: Myjoyonline