Insults will not create jobs; insults will not bring about the peace and harmony that we need to develop. Are we going to spend our time hurling insults at one another whiles we leave the development of the country unattended to?”<\/p>\n
This was President John Evans Atta-Mills speaking with uncharacteristic passion when he launched the Tema-Accra railway service in Tema last year.<\/p>\n
It is said that the mouth of an elderly person may be without teeth, but it is never without wisdom. But the same cannot be said of politicians in Ghana. In 2010 it was as though an intra-party and inter-party foul language competition was in ongoing; and our politicians and their disgruntled party boys and girls were trying to outwit one another.<\/p>\n
Not even the president of the republic was spared in the insult trade. An NPP activist, one Alexander Adu Gyamfi, popularly called High Priest, went on air in Kumasi and made disparaging remarks about the president\u2019s looks, which cannot be repeated on this decent platform. His comments were considered extremely distasteful and when the police picked him up, freedom of speech was under siege. In the ensuing controversy, the President directed the police to set him free.<\/p>\n
Prince Derrick Adjei, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist at the National Youth Council, did not want to be left out. He jumped from one radio station to the other like a singing bird that had eaten too much pepper, saying Ghana\u2019s parliament was replete with homosexuals. And promised to publicly declare the list homosexuals in his possession. Maybe today or tomorrow, that list will come out. This was after he had made insulting remarks about why Nana Akuffo Addo was not recognized at the festival in Cape Coast.<\/p>\n
The then Deputy Minister of Tourism, Kobby Acheampong, also made considerable headlines. The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) members of parliament called for his immediate resignation. Some NPP youth in Kumasi declared the deputy minister persona non grata in Kumasi.<\/p>\n
What was Kobby\u2019s crime? He had referred to the NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, as a \u201ccocoa ase kurase ni\u201d or a \u201cprimitive\u201d person from a cocoa growing village. Never mind the interpretation.<\/p>\n
This was on an Accra-based radio station. But the victim, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie was himself not a saint. A few months earlier, palm wine tappers had called for his head when he made comments they considered derogatory. Sir John, as he\u2019s popularly known, said while he was undertaking his university education, NDC\u2019s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, was tapping palm wine. A few seconds later, a palm wine tappers association was born. Only heavens know how long that association lived.<\/p>\n
Sir John was, perhaps, sending a warning that General Mosquito had monopoly over foul words. Mr. Asiedu Nketia had, prior to the NPP Congress in 2007, referred to the 17 aspirants as thieves who were going to elect their \u201cchief thief.\u201d And he refused to apologise.<\/p>\n
If there had been a ballot to choose who ranked foremost in politics of insults in 2010, one man who would have stood out was Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the Member of Parliament for Asukwa. Mr. Jumah got away with it when he said there were Al Qaeda members within the NPP prior to the party\u2019s historic congress. But this time round luck eluded him.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kofi Jumah was appointed mayor of Kumasi in President John Agyekum Kufuor\u2019s administration but was replaced with Madam Patricia Appiagyei. He later became MP of Asokwa and as 2012 was drawing near, Madam Appiagyei declared her intention to contest the primaries against Mr. Jumah. The Ashanti Region is the NPP stronghold and, like the NDC in the Volta Region, if one wins the primaries in a particular constituency, one only has to prepare to be sworn into parliament. Party primaries are fiercer in such constituencies than the actual national elections.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, this did not warrant Mr. Kofi Jumah to say what he said on air. He was asked on a Kumasi-based radio station how he felt about Madam Appiagyei\u2019s intention to contest him in the primaries.<\/p>\n
And his answer was simple. If Madam Appiagyei used sexual favours to unseat him [Kofi Jumah] as Kumasi mayor, she shouldn\u2019t try this time round because she would fail.<\/p>\n
Some women in Kumasi threatened a naked demonstration to protest against the MP\u2019s loose talk if he refused to apologize. The MP said he was misconstrued, but if people who misconstrued him felt hurt, then he was sorry. The demonstration was cancelled, but the MP\u2019s comments had far-reaching implications.<\/p>\n
It is the President who appoints Mayors. So if Maxwell Kofi Jumah said Madam Appiagyei got her position by offering sexual favours, who was the recipient of the favour? If Ghana were an enlightened democracy, Mr. Jumah\u2019s political career would have come to an end after such a comment.<\/p>\n
This is a society where women, though endowed with equal and sometimes better qualities, are yet to be accepted into certain positions. No reasonable person worthy of a public office would therefore make such a derogatory statement about women.<\/p>\n
The party summoned Maxwell Kofi Jumah before its disciplinary committee but no one knows the outcome. NPP\u2019s General Secretary later said on GBC Radio\u2019s Behind the News programme that the party would also discipline its members if they made offensive comments against members of rival political parties. One can guarantee this will never happen in Ghana, but at least he NPP should be commended for setting the pace. Intra-party discipline is what differentiates the NPP from the NDC. Their ideologies and principles differ only on paper and in words. Not in deeds!<\/p>\n
Whether property-grabbing democrats or social democrats, they both grab state property. And in large quantities! And when it is deemed fit, the \u201csocialists\u201d will operate private block factories that will sell out for state projects. So you see? Ideologies only matter on paper.<\/p>\n
If one thought 2010 was a year of political loose talk and insults, then one should start looking for a stronger name for 2011. The year is still very young but if what has started is anything to go by, then one can expect fireworks as we approach 2012.<\/p>\n
The NDC Member of Parliament for Afram Plains South, Mr. Emmanuel Aboagye Didieye recently fouled the air to the distaste of his colleagues. He said 80% of his fellow MPs were womanizers and that 60% of teachers were worshipers of the intoxicating liquid of the palm tree \u2013 akpeteshie \u2013 or its holy counterparts across the sea.<\/p>\n
When his colleagues descended on him, he apologised and debunked rumours that he was mentally unstable. His colleagues in Parliament did not take it kindly and have referred him to the Privileges Committee. But do the honourable members have the moral right to punish their colleague.<\/p>\n
Did they refer the MP who stated publicly that his wife gave him gonorrhea to the Privileges Committee? What about Kofi Jumah\u2019s unprovoked attack on Madam Appiagyei? If it is not against the \u201cHonourable\u201d Members, then there\u2019s nothing wrong with it seems to be the rule. Right?<\/p>\n
Recently the Assin North MP, Kennedy Agyapong and Alhaji Bature engaged in one of the nastiest exchanges one could ever hear on anywhere. But the two were live on air. Alhaji Bature, who had always accused Kennedy Agyapong of dealing in narcotic drugs, could not provide a shred of evidence when the radio presenter asked if he had any. Nevertheless, he remained defiant.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe cannot take me to court. He knows that I know his secrets,\u201d he said. Kennedy Agyapong on the other hand said no amount of damages could offset the harm Bature had caused to him. So? He had to settle it on air. Mr. Agyapong would later make similar defamatory remarks about the CEO of Multimedia Group, Mr. Kwesi Twum.<\/p>\n
While his insults were downloaded as mobile phone ringtones, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong was invited as the Guest Speaker at Adisadel College\u2019s 101st Anniversary and Speech and Prize Day. The Headmaster and staff of ADISCO ought to bow in shame for stooping so low. Are we to follow money and not care about the morality of the children? Don\u2019t we have people in Ghana whose lives, words and works can inspire the students? What do students learn from such insulting adults?<\/p>\n
Authorities of ADISCO must bow their heads in shame!<\/p>\n
Well, Kobby Acheampong has remained unrepentant, like Lucifer. He is reported to have told the tertiary students\u2019 wing of the NDC in Kumasi that Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP was a \u201cfruitcake.\u201d He was commenting on Nana Akufo-Addo\u2019s in\/famous \u201call die be die\u201d statement.<\/p>\n
Listening to the recording on myjoyonline.com, one would think the interaction was between kindergarten children, and not a lecturer and university students. (Kobby was a lecturer).<\/p>\n
The NPP are calling on President Mills to dismiss Kobby Acheampong, who is the Deputy Minister of Interior. The Christian Council has backed the call on President Mills to punish the insulting deputy minister. But it is not likely that that call will be heeded. At least, Prince Derick Agyei was not dismissed. And there are some ministers of state and people in key positions in government who got their positions because in the eight years of NDC\u2019s opposition, they insulted and vilified the most. The NPP also have some (including a few women, a disgrace to womanhood) who will no doubt be made ministers of state if they win in 2012.<\/p>\n
If Kobby Acheampong is dismissed, it is good news for Ghanaian politics. If he is left alone, it is better news for the NPP. In 2008 many people, including some NPP supporters, were happy when news broke that Stephen Asamoah Boateng had lost his parliamentary seat?<\/p>\n
Need I say why? These insulting remarks have a cumulative effect on the fortunes of a political party, and not just the individual involved. There is usually a time when public opinion will weigh heavily against a government. And everal factors usually account for that, including behaviours of such people as Kobby Acheampong.<\/p>\n
At least, the NPP suffered it. If cash, the media and adequate exploitation of incumbency could save them, Kobby and his people would have been in opposition forever.<\/p>\n
The NPP need not worry too much. If Kobby goes unpunished, the NDC will never go unpunished in the long run.<\/p>\n
But it will only be fair that the Kofi Jumahs, the Kennedy Agyapongs and the likes within the NPP be tamed also. For what is good for Hon. Albert Abongo\u2019s Bongo is also good for Tongo.<\/p>\n