Witty Encounters

THE TAMALE presidential debate has been described by many as an improvement over the Accra one. As usual a section of the population has been busy since the session ended, giving their opinions about who did better than the others.

We do not think that is the issue. We should as Ghanaians be concerned about how to insist that the presidential candidates when they come to power undertake what they promised to do by critically analyzing the responses.

We should also use such encounters to determine the credibility of the presidential candidates who are seeking our votes on Election Day.

It appears though that some of us are so blinded by partisanship that we cannot see any good in the other candidates.

Such elements listen to the proceedings with closed minds and entrenched positions, therefore seeing no good in candidates who are not theirs.

In spite of such shortcomings however things are taking a turn for the better with the passing days.

Who says we are not growing even in the face of deliberate attempts by some at raising the political temperature?

There were a number of expressed skepticisms about the Tamale debate, against the backdrop of the allegation that Nana Akufo-Addo had taken advantage of leaked questions.

It turned out that the leakage story was nothing but a non-issue, the usual ones bandied around by overzealous partisan elements seeking to do all to debase the image of their opponents.

Some curious persons while seeking the underlying factor for the leakage allegation concluded that because it was baseless it failed to make any impact.

We are also prompted to ask whether a political person like Nana Akufo-Addo who has been on the campaign trail for this while would have to depend on questions on the economy, the rule of law, foreign policy and the like before stepping on the debating arena.

When partisan elements resort to such attempts at debasing persons who have carved a certain image for themselves, they must not forget that readers or listeners are discerning and not a bunch of nonentities.

It is worth recalling that former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife even questioned the credibility of Nana Akufo-Addo's qualification as a lawyer.

If that was not the apogee of senselessness we do not know what is, especially since the man, being rubbished, is a lawyer of many years standing in the country.

Considering the quality of his responses there was no doubting Nana's ability to field even more complex questions at the debating session.

Now that the whole exercise is over we are waiting to hear or read what the killjoys would come up with. Indeed some of them even sought to have the NDC presidential candidate turn down the offer of making an appearance at the session.

That in spite of the hitches the programme has come to an end with no bones broken suggests that we are generally not doing badly but for the undue and deliberate raising of the political temperature.

The lessons learnt from the two debates and other secondary ones arranged for the candidates should offer the electorate the opportunity to interact with their compatriots who have offered to lead the country when given the opportunity.

This is not the time to start heaping insults on the candidates when there is no need for these.

Another lesson from the witty encounters is that since the presidential candidates were able to sit together and engage in the presentation of divergent approaches to national challenges, it would be stupid and unproductive to engage in unruly behaviour with others from different parties.