A Clarion Call For Peace In Response To The Election Violence At La Bawaleshie

SIGNS OF TROUBLING TIMES

I was shocked and mortified last week as I viewed video clips of an eruption of senseless and needless violence during the by-elections of Ayawaso West Wuogon - heightening the chances of an outburst of violence in 20/20 - a stark warning of perilous times ahead.

What surprised me was not necessarily the violence, because ever since the days of organized peaceful mass manifestations against the draconian decrees of the oppressive (P)NDC regimes, such skirmishes and the use of naked violence have been their stock-in-trade.

What took me aback was the role reversals - the NPP, the usual recipient of such brute force at the hands of the (P)NDC now the dispenser and vice versa;something ex-president Mahama shamefully but boastfully reiterated:“ The NDC has revolutionary roots, and that when it comes to unleashing violence, nobody can beat us in unleashing violence.” A gut-wrenching reminder of the sanguinary eras of yesteryear.

So, the question I asked myself was, “ After all these years of tactfully tip toeing the political minefields and booby traps the NDC put along their paths, why to allow yourselves to be goaded into causing such a painful, unpardonable and despicable unmitigated blunder now?”

The harm has already been done but let’s endeavour to use peaceful means, in the interest of our nation, to resolve differences with our opponents because violence only recapitulates violence. The grim reality of what transpired on that fateful day is that Ghana now faces certain existential threats that seem to be running out of control - vigilantism, ethnocentrism, nepotism, corruption and religious bigotry. Topping the list - vigilantism - has exacerbated in recent years and has resulted in a needless elections violence in La Balawashie, amplifying the risk from this menace and other threats, putting our future and that of succeeding generations in extraordinary danger.

THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY

The proliferation of ragtag marauding gangsters in the country as a new normal is too volatile and too dangerous for us to accept as a nation. The activities of these groups, if not controlled and well regulated, can have potentially deleterious consequences on our national security, and so must be tackled with all seriousness and necessary attention it demands.

The threat to national security is compounded because of political differences of the parties on how to tackle national security matters without skewing it for political capital. What needs to be done is for the parties to take a critical nonprejudicial look at current and emergent national security problems with a longer range view.

There is a need to help illuminate and address this issue and other trends by examining contemporary and emergent concerns for national security through a wide aperture by bringing expertise to bear in publications, media appearances, and briefings.

If we are going to save our country from this troubling and frightening reality that confronts us, we need to eschew all prejudices and confront the matter objectively. Propaganda from political party operatives has reached a level where facts are becoming indistinguishable from frictions, disrupting our very abilities to develop and find answers to national security problems confronting our nation. Intellectual discourses easily degenerate into shouting bouts and fisticuffs on radio and television stations. Some radio and television presenters dedicate whole programs to spewing invectives and beating war drums.

Also, the intentional corruption of information through political propaganda threatens to undermine the national discourse needed to address the cloud of lethal challenge looming over our dear country. For our fledgling democracy to succeed, we need a greater number of our people, especially, the youth to be involved in national politics, however, if we allow the spewing of distasteful caustic vituperations and other bad behavior to continue unchecked on our airwaves, it will eventually drive the citizenry into a dangerous sense of anomie and political paralysis.

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Ghana is not immune to the violence that engulfed our neighbors not long ago - we do not love peace more than our neighbors hated war. Therefore, we have to be mindful of utterances and behaviors that can only fertilize the ground for internecine conflicts and no one puts it better than the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon who asked in Proverbs 6:27 and 28:

“Can a man take fire to his bosom,

And his clothes not be burned?

Can one walk on hot coals,

And his feet not be seared?”

Need I say more? Or we need the chorus from Osibisa’s FIRE to quicken or conscience? Here we go again:

“Fire will burn you, fire will burn you

Fire will burn you, fire will burn you

Watch out, watch out, watch out”

And in my own palace:

Fire will burn uuuuuu...so change!

Fire will burn uuuuuu...so stop!!

Repeat ad infinitum .

Still relevant today - Ghanaians are playing with fire 🔥 and we need to be circumspect in this problem of political violence, else, we would have ourselves to blame. For what positions are all these threats of fire and brimstone in 20/20? For what are we shooting ourselves? I tell you the truth: No position is worth dying for on this earth except a position in the Kingdom of Heaven, and you don’t even have to die to attain a position there because Christ already died for you. So let all of us take a chill pill 💊 and cool down.

CLARION CALL

Believe it or not, Ghana, our beloved country is on a precipice, needing everybody’s input to avert any catastrophe: Priests, Priestesses, Imams, Traditional leaders, workers, Trade Unions, artisans, farmers, fishermen, professional bodies and political parties must as a matter of urgency unite their efforts and resources in excising this cancer which is insidiously destroying the very fabric of our nation.

Everyone has a role to play in advancing this vision: Fields are white and harvests waiting;

Who will bear the sheaves away?"

Will you respond as Daniel March wrote in his masterpiece, “ Hark! the voice of Jesus crying, ‘Who will go and work today?” and gladly answer, “ Here am I, send me, send me.”

It is my fervent hope that you will join this noble cause, and in so doing, help #AVOID CIVIL STRIFE.

By Charles Biney

Dallas, Texas.

Charles is a Biochemist and an award winning poet. A Human and Civil Rights campaigner, a graduate of the ( P ) NDC dungeons of arrests and torture. Also, an ex Convening Secretary of the erstwhile fearsome London-based Democratic Alliance Of Ghana ( DAG ) in the US, and the US representative of CCDF, MFJ, AFC and all the pro-democracy movements that confronted the intransigent ( P ) NDC repressive regimes.