ONSLAUGHT AGAINST DR. DANNAA’S MINISTERIAL NOMINATION: a disdain to humanity!

“A civilization is judged by its treatment of minorities”. Mahatma Ghandhi

My heart bleeds; and my soul mourns for what is one of the most disdaining insults to humanity I have ever heard. It is absolutely unimaginable the comments coming from some chiefs whose basis for their discontent with Dr. Henry Seidu Dannaa's nomination to the high office of Minister designate to the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs does not revolve around his competencies, but rather his being a visually impaired. Ghana is indeed sinking so low on its core values of respect for humanity. Chiefs are people who are supposed to be traditional rulers holding unto themselves the sanctity of society whilst anchoring peaceful co-existence, good neighborliness, fellow-feeling and shared communal spirit where the weak is helped to survive; the deaf is aided; the blind is guided so that all will live a dignified life to the glory of God named severally in all known languages!

The highest level of abuse to humanity is when one's natural make-up and or digression of normalcy become the basis for his or her being segregated. Oh, I thought segregation had long become historical episode and thus confined to the era of barbarism that our colonizers cruelly subjected our forefathers to! I thought the onslaught of slavery and its resultant pain and anguish have been buried beyond the point of resurgence. Little did I know that there live some men whose veins, blood and very soul cannot be detached from segregation. Those opposing Dr. Dannaa's nomination on the basis of his being a visually impaired are acting as if blindness is a tainted disease so despicable that they cannot associate freely with other members of the society. Scientifically, blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological and or neurological factors. The baseline is that no person is immune to the condition of being blind and or being afflicted with any other ailment. Are the chiefs suggesting that they are immune to this condition? How would they feel should this condition befall them whilst they serve as chiefs? Would they despise themselves? This is sheer senseless, to say the least!

Ghana's 1992 Constitution is clear on the rights of all human beings including those with physical challenges. Set within the laws of Ghana, there is no logical basis for the call by some chiefs to the effect that Dr. Dannaa's nomination should be rejected. In any case, is this not the same man who works in concert with the Chieftaincy Ministry as the Director of Research? Is he not the same person whose contribution to the sector has been deemed as a trait par excellence?

We live in a country where the physically challenged is already inundated with a plethora of challenges as no provision is made to ensure that they have easy access to public buildings where they can conduct businesses unaided. The physically challenged often sit in class with their able-bodied counterparts to study and write same papers. Often, they endure the dangers of shrugging shoulders with able-bodied to join public transport and not too many of them dare to advance through the strenuous ladder of education. No wonder many physically challenged have been reduced to beggars on our streets. For Dr. Dannaa to have weathered the storms of all these challenges to become a lawyer of repute and a sterling academician and researcher, how on earth must there be any objection to his nomination for a ministerial position to a sector he is already associated with? This is unimaginable especially when the rejection is set within traditions and not competencies.

The quote of Mahatma Ghandhi preceding this write up has been cited by yours truly in an article entitled THE DISABLED PERSON IN PERSPECTIVE which appeared in the Daily Graphic of March 5, 2005 in which I sought to pull a defense for the rights of the physically challenged. Dear reader, permit me to recall a portion that says: “Despite the obvious potentials of people with disabilities, society and successive governments have made little efforts at ensuring that the disabled are assimilated into the society and thus benefit from equal opportunities as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution”. In all honesty, I still hold this view and the discontent of the chiefs opposing Dr. Dannaa's nomination makes me more livid! However, I see a new wave of thinking as emerging from the body of government to the effect that the disabled deserve an even better treatment and elevation. I commend His Excellency President Mahama for this historic appointment. The support from the National House of Chiefs in respect of Dr. Dannaa's nomination is an appreciation of his good works. It is a jinx that has been broken and I can see the gate of freedom opened to our disabled men and women. It is the voice that says to them that their efforts are worthy of reward so they must soar up higher than the eagle can do. It is a mark worth commending!

Indeed, considering the views held by the oppossers of Dr. Dannaa's nomination makes me wonder what at all they are seeking to achieve. In explaining why some chiefs do not come into contact with the blind, Mr. Obiri Yeboah, a renowned Sociologist and a chief, is quoted on citifmonline.com as saying “the reason why a chief might not come into contact with a disabled person is because a chief must not shed tears in public and sometimes when you meet such people; it can make you shed a tear,”. So must this be the basis for which competency should be shelved to satisfy the emotional egos of chiefs? Amazing fallacy! How on earth must our chiefs show pride of being emotionally strong and balanced to the point that they would want to see a blind, turned a lawyer and PHD holder kept away from limelight into obscurity whilst tapping his reach expertise? If this is not pride and ego trading, then I do not know what else it is. Or is it a case of living in the past where traditions that denigrated the human dignity were heralded? It is these acts of prejudice to humanity that have brought the chieftaincy institution into a sector of sinking public image to mere ceremonial tags waged behind the scenes of diplomacy!

Our chiefs must be reminded that there are great men and women who suffered visual impairment of varying forms. Interestingly, most of them suffered the condition through sheer accident. However, their contribution to humanity makes one doubt whether indeed they ever were impaired visually. Examining what caused the blindness of most of the world's great men and women will remind the chiefs that they too can suffer the fate now or later in life. If trauma could render Enrico Dandolo - the doge of Venice blind, then one must be very careful in seeking to alienate blind persons from the society. The list of renowned men and women who were blind include: Abdurrahman Wahid - former President of Indonesia (1940- ); David Blunkett - (born 1947) - British ex-cabinet minister: Dorothea Lange - Photographer (1895 - 1965); Dr William Moon - inventor of Moon system of reading; Eamon de Valera - (1882 - 1975) - President of Ireland; Esmond Knight - British actor; Harilyn Rousso - Disability Rights Activist/Psychotherapist (1946-); Homer - Greek poet; Isaac the Blind - (1160 - 1235) - French cabbalist; Isaac - biblical patriarch; John Wesley Powell - Explorer - Geologist (1834 - 1902); King John the Blind of Bohemia - (1309 - 1346); Samson - Biblical character; and St. Paul – Apostle. Readers can access these and more from the website of the Disabled World via http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/famous-blind.shtml#ixzz2KFnASueA

One thing worth examining is that those with one form of impairment or the other seem more committed to creating a just world for all to live in. It was within this context that Louis Braille, the inventor of the Braille writing device ventured into this important project after he became blind for accidentally stabbing himself in the eye with his father's awl. Today, the Braille has helped and assisted many including Dr. Dannaa who has risen in both fame and stature to the admiration of all. They being the victims of circumstances are more human-centered and I bet that when Dr. Dannaa is given the space to serve in the high office of a Minister he will excel beyond imagination.

Had society relegated these men and women to the background, perhaps, the world would have lost their amazing contributions. It is against this background that I wish to entreat our chiefs to be mindful in their approach. The least they can do is to praise the efforts of Dr. Dannaa for defying the odds against the blind to be where he now is. Our chiefs must rather use their gong-gong beaters to summon all their subjects for a hearing of the success story of Dr. Dannaa. They must indeed pray for more moon-lit nights so that they can share with their folks all the hurdles the nominee has endured to reach the pinnacle of academic pedestal. This will inspire not only the physically challenged in their communities but also the able-bodied who may not appreciate the potentials they have in them. And whilst they do so, they must be reviewing all customs and traditions that constitute an affront to humanity to pave way for a more progressive society where impairments cannot hold an alibi for alienation. On this note, may I remind Nana Kwaku Dwomo Ankoana II, who allegedly described Dr. Dannaa's nomination as “an abomination to choose a physically-challenged person to lead a chieftaincy institution” that there is nothing more abominable than to segregate on any pretext! This mindset is rather indignation to the Creator's creating powers and if this is not abominable, then nothing else can so be! Nana and his cohorts must come to terms with reality and shelve prejudice fashioned out in the guise of traditions!

God bless Ghana.

Adieu!

Adama Bukari.
Accra, Ghana

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
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