Senseless Bloodletting

The bloody Thursday clash which claimed some lives including that of a poor peace-seeking policeman and left many injured in Anloga can best be described as barbaric and senseless with no place in a civilized society.

We consider it condemnable, especially coming at a time when we are supposed to have outgrown such despicable actions in our societies.

It is unfortunate that the chieftaincy institution, which we are supposed to hallow, preserve and protect as an important cultural heritage and look up to for the provision of the necessary support to modern governance, is showing signs of degeneration not only in Anloga but elsewhere in the country.

There are no two ways about the fact that something has definitely gone haywire with our previously hallowed chieftaincy institution and the earlier we took another look at it, the better it would be for those of us who want it to remain a significant adjunct of modern day governance.

Failure to do this would eventually take away the traces of respectability which the institution has managed to retain so far in a fast changing world.

Indeed, government has shown interest in preserving the chieftaincy institution as evidenced by the singular act of creating a special department for maintenance of chieftaincy affairs in the country.

By this act, government, especially the Kufuor administration has not only kept faith with the institution, but expressed sincere commitment in doing all that it can to protect it from extinction.

There are Ghanaians who have questioned the sense in continuing to allow the chieftaincy institution to remain part of our socio-political landscape.

For us, however, it constitutes an important aspect of our cultural heritage and should therefore be supported to play a role in our affairs as a nation by all means. This cannot however be done through the perpetration of mayhem.

A nation without a history cannot be described as a serious one and worth calling one's own. Ours fortunately has that history, and a rich one, in which the chieftaincy institution played significant and epoch-making roles before the advent of the Lugards, Burns and Rodgers.

In fact, if we allow it to die away by condoning or being indifferent to the things happening to it, there is every possibility that disrespect and shame would become the characteristics of the institution, factors which would lead to its extinction.

The picture one gets of Anloga and indeed, some parts of the country where chieftaincy disputes stand tall, is that the elders who are custodians of the people's cultural heritage do not have control over affairs any longer.

The Anloga saga and the response of the police raises one big question about our internal security management procedures and tools.

Much as we sympathise with the police in the performance of such dangerous internal security duties, we think that something must be done about modernizing the approach to them.

The use of live ammo, for instance, must be the last resort under such circumstances. Modern methods like water cannons, rubber bullets and others must find their way into our items of rowdy crowd control.

This is not to say that we are on the side of lawlessness, not at all. We ask that those found guilty of encouraging what happened be brought to book to serve as deterrent to others with similar proclivity.

We also ask the authorities to dispassionately tackle the root causes of what prompted the nasty spectacle to obviate a future recurrence.