Much Ado About A Remark

Kennedy Agyapong

The curtain was drawn yesterday over another political episode which raised the political temperature close to boiling point.

When a country is struck by a leadership paralysis and the vacuum is filled by self-seeking characters, the fallouts are some of what we are beginning to behold.

We thought that such political scenarios belonged to the past after their regrettable appearance in local politics under the military adventurists of the 70s and 80s.

We have conspicuously gone backwards, exhibiting signs of having learnt nothing from the bountiful lessons of the periods mentioned above and beyond.

The developments of the past few days were without doubt very dangerous to the stability of the state and managers of national security will not dispute this fact.

The government only carried on with their efforts to subdue the Assin North MP when it was clear that the charge of treason they had preferred against him is not sustainable. 

Theirs was to show him where power lies to satisfy a particular political objective at a negative cost.

Power has a way of playing funny tricks in the minds of those who wield it to the extent that they ignore the many lessons of history.

When wielders of power reach this dangerous stage, they begin to feel invincible and exceptional and therefore not susceptible to the realities of history.

If only they could learn from the lessons of history, they would definitely not repeat this. The temptation of those at the helm feeling they are different looms big over them at this stage, leading them to eventually suffer a similar fate as those before them who exhibited wanton instance of impunity.

The four-day hullabaloo over the arrest, detention and eventual release of the Assin North MP was avoidable but those wielding power sought to prove a point that they are in charge and therefore have the capacity to do as they please.

Had the context in which the gentleman spoken been considered sincerely and brooded over, perhaps government and other stakeholders would have discovered that the symptoms of the political malaise confronting the nation needed serious attention.

Unfortunately, state players have all been consumed by a burning desire to visit sanctions on those they hate, regardless of how of these are inconsistent with the statutes.

Government should have adequate elasticity towards issues of this nature and not allow intolerance to consume them in the way that we have observed in the case of the Kennedy Agyapong case.

The underlying factor, which was the verbal explosion of the man, must be treated by all of us as a people because as observed by major think tanks on election matters the world over, electoral violence is triggered by and large by the marginalization of ethnic groupings.

We would be playing the ostrich when we pretend that nothing is amiss in the management of the biometric registration exercise in certain parts of the country.

The remarks of Hon. Kennedy Agyapong and matters which led to that should be addressed with a view to tackling the pain suffered by those who feel disenfranchised by a presidential aide.

Those who should take note of the anomalies regarding the biometric registration, especially in Odododiodoo, have decided to disregard because it inures to their interest.

We are relieved however that it is all over, the political drama characterized by the legal blunders. If only the hidden hands behind the mess would learn, we would have taken a major stride towards addressing a major political challenge in our body-politic.