11 November 2008
opinion
On the front page of yesterday's state-owned Daily Graphic, the Chairman of the Council of the University of Ghana, Mr. Tony Oteng Gyasi was reported as saying that the "series of political violence being recorded ahead of the forthcoming elections pose a threat to business activities in the country."
Other pillars of society, civil society institutions, traditional and religious leaders, the media, even the military, have had cause over these past few months to sound the word of caution in relation to these elections, which are only three or so weeks away.
The fear of violence is on everyone's mind. Skirmishes here and there, especially between NDC and NPP supporters have added to the trepidation and as Election Day draws closer, there is no sign to give hope that the elections would go smoothly. Indeed, if anything at all, the "ugly noises" coming from certain quarters are only going to prepare the grounds for disagreement and a fight to the finish.
Our lead story today is an example of the kind of sabre rattling that would one way or the other end in real conflict.
It was the NDC leader, ex-Flt. Lt. Rawlings who introduced the bogey of rigging into the electoral process which then became the casus belli threatening not only the electoral process, but the security and survival of the nation.
It is this "rigging threat" that has been taken up by his party as the central plank of its prosecution of the campaign leading towards Election Day. Remarkably and worryingly, all those calling for violence-free elections are doing so with their heads in the proverbial clouds refusing to go to the source of the apprehension.
Violence does not happen in a vacuum. Violence is instigated, nurtured and directed. It is only when these are detected and neutralized, that violence is averted. Right now, it does not seem to us that as a nation we are doing that. There is more indignation than any systematic social programme to finger the source(s) of our fear and ring fence it for the good of all.
In these election campaigns, ex-Flt. Lt. Rawlings is heard more than the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the NDC and all his words are peppered with threats, intimidation, accusation, insult, self-aggrandizement and hints of violence. It is he who wants our country to burn and he has a number of motives, not exactly noble, but as petty as the following two:
1.An election ending in violence would dent President Kufuor's reputation in the eyes of the international community, which so far has held up the Ghanaian president as one of the most successful in post-colonial Africa. Rawlings would love nothing more than an election rumpus denying Kufuor that final accolade.
Rawlings has always imagined himself to be the best that ever happened to Ghana and Africa and no one else. His disrespect and maligning of President Kufuor these past 8 years were as contemptible as they were self-serving.
Paradoxically, they have had no impact and the Ghanaian leader is leaving in a blaze of glory so why not deny him the icing on the cake by making sure there is no peaceful transfer of power?
2.A 3rd term for the NPP or indeed a CPP victory, would mean that the NDC would be out and that means Rawlings too; his dreams of getting Australia House, a motorcade, a say in government, a chance to revenge, a 31st December/June 4 revival, would all go up in smoke.
Rawlings has a history that cannot and should not be wished away in these uncertain times:
1.It was an act sheer terrorism and violence when on May 15 1979, he took officers of the Ghana Armed Forces hostage to protest one thing or the other. That is how he first came to public notice.
2.The June 4 mutiny in 1979, which he later headed as chairman of the PNDC, is up to date the most bloody and violent political activity in Ghana's post-colonial history. Three former military heads of state and five others were trussed up and shot at Teshie. He still gloats over this slaughter. Countless others lost their lives during this period.
3.His apologists are wont to boast that he brought democracy to Ghana because he handed over after almost 20 years to a party that defeated his party at elections. This is one of the most shameful acts of historical distortion that can be visited on any nation.
The fact is that through an act of terror and violence, using force of arms, he overthrew the constitutionally elected government of the 3rd Republic after it had been in office for only two and a half years of its mandated 4 years.
Over the next 19 years, he did what he liked with Ghana and Ghanaians (it should not matter what political party they belong to) must not forget that out of those 19 years, three were spent in curfew and breakers of that curfew did it on the pain of death!
They must not also forget he was player, referee and judge in the electoral process that returned him to power from PNDC to NDC in 1992. A blatantly rigged election, those who contested him could not even bring themselves to congratulate him. They however restrained their supporters and there was no violence...
It is against this background of violence and terrorism that the man's constant harping on vote rigging cannot be good news for Ghana. It is not hostage taking, a military style coup or mutiny this time, but election violence with the potential of engulfing the entire nation that he intends to be his final fiery legacy - to be blamed on President Kufuor - and Ghana has less than 4 weeks to prevent that...
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