Stress Test For Ghana's Democracy

Kennedy Agyapong

Ghana's democracy went through a harrowing stress test in the past few days following the appalling handling of the so-called Kennedy Agyapong outburst on the airwaves.

As for the security agencies and the way they enforced the 'order from above', they were unsurprisingly rough, spraying pepper into the eyes of otherwise cooperative party persons: It was reminiscent of an uncivil society where the rule of law is a Utopian dream.

The results of the stress test are anything but impressive, especially as good governance practices are being trampled upon with reckless abandon by those elected to manage, temporarily, the affairs of state.

The effects of the unfolding worrisome scenarios are impacting rather negatively on our governance score sheet, regrettably, to the detriment of our international standing. If we are seeking other factors for the free fall of the cedi, such uncouth management of state affairs cannot be overlooked.

We were amazed at the reaction of the relevant government agencies to the Assin North MP's remarks which were, by and large, no different from what we are used to hearing on the airwaves and reading on the pages of newspapers.

These remarks are the products of a society in which a group of politicians at the helm continues to display wanton political irresponsibility with no temptation to consider the repercussions of such inappropriate conduct.

Impunity has become so endemic that it is now a political norm. For some, there should be no limitation in how far they can express their resentment of the myriad governance shortcomings.   

The import of the MP's remarks was deliberately taken out of context with a view to dealing a tendentious blow to a man who has been a thorn in the flesh of the government for some time now.

The Woyome tale is one prominent case which has given the government an unprecedented insomnia for which the quest for a pound of flesh in revenge has not been out of the equation.

 Given the unfolding worrying political scenarios, against the backdrop of the ongoing biometric registration, many concerned Ghanaians including Hon. Kennedy Agyapong made various interventions as a way of venting their disappointment.

For once, Ghanaians woke up to the stunning reality of being asked to go to their towns of origin to register for the biometric exercise. The crudeness with which it was done by the president's aide prompted many questions about what the Commander-In-Chief seeks to achieve.

A national conversation on the worrying subject, as put out in the public domain, by the president's men with his acquiescence cannot be overemphasized.

Hon. Kennedy Agyapong's remarks, as aforementioned, were in consonance with current trends. If we are uncomfortable with such trends which cut across the political divide, we must as a people consider initiating a surgical management of the anomaly.

The isolation of one of the many symptoms of our political malaise as a nation and dealing with it, as in the case of the Kennedy Agyapong case, will naturally raise the political temperature with no solution in sight.