Feature Article : "The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Modernghana.com."

Come December 7, 2008, millions of Ghanaians will again go to the polls to choose among the candidates presented by the various political parties, whom they deem fit to serve and not to rule them as a people.

Under normal circumstance, one would expect this to be a simple task for any well-meaning Ghanaian to perform.

However, unfolding events in these few months to the elections raise a lot of questions as to whether or not Ghanaians will become more united or divided after the elections due to the uneasy calm hovering across the length and breadth of the country.

Various media reports of violent clashes among supporters of the various political parties and beating of war drums by some politicians seems to be giving some level of room for this speculation.

I am therefore writing this article of emotions to let all Ghanaians know how much we cherish with no mean our small country of diverse cultures and different people, with specific reference to the breath-taking HBO movie titled 'Sometimes in April'.

The very day I watched that movie, I wept and prayed that 'God forbid' the ugly horrific scenes I saw should never find space and time in Ghana.

I therefore fervently pray that each and every Ghanaian, no matter one's position should grab a copy of this movie to come to terms with the message I'm trying to send across.

It will thus not be too much of a demand to ask those beating war drums to be cautious of their activities since 'God forbid' they could plunge the entire nation into chaos.

Probably, they might have forgotten that we have only one Ghana and nothing else and for that matter we can't risk our lives for 'mere' intellectual exercise.

No! That will obviously be a big shame for Ghana, a country that so-much pride itself as a beacon of democracy in not only the West-African sub-region but the entire Africa, a continent struggling to make amends with its past.

For me, the experience of Rwanda alone and not to even talk about the equally dreadful and sorrowful experience of neighbouring Ivory Coast, Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan is enough for Ghanaians to learn from in order not to chart that tortuous course of grieve and pain.

That nerve-racking experience of Rwanda evokes passion and emotions considering the innocent lives it claimed and I do know for sure that the always peaceful and fun-loving Ghanaians will not want to go that way.

I even doubt how many Ghanaians have a passport, let alone can afford to purchase an airline ticket to travel outside the country 'God forbid' if there is an outbreak of violence after the declaration of the election results.

My piece of advice to every Ghanaian, especially followers of these political parties is that most or virtually all the politicians they claim to be fighting for can afford to fly their families outside the Ghana, leaving the rest of us to battle our fates out.

Therefore, as the Akans will say 'se wonim owuo hwe nna', literally meaning, if you have not seen a dead person before, just take a look at a man sleeping.

This should tell each and every Ghanaian on whose backs these politicians rise to power that when trouble is looming, it is never heralded by a flag, probably that of Ghana.

I take solace in a statement once made by Martin Luther King Jnr “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

In April 1994, one of the most heinous genocides in world history began in the African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of 100 days, close to one million people were killed in a terrifying purge by Hutu nationalists against their Tutsi countrymen. This harrowing HBO Films drama focuses on the almost indescribable human atrocities that took place a decade ago through the story of two Hutu brothers - one in the military, one a radio personality - whose relationship and private lives were forever changed in the midst of the genocide. Written and directed by Raoul Peck (HBO Films' “Lumumba”), the movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired.

HBO describes the movie as both “an edge-of-the-seat thriller and a chilling reminder of man's incomprehensible capacity for cruelty”.

'Sometimes in April' is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda.  Continued    Source: The Chronicle

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