When A Mosquito Fouls The Terrain

Asiedu Nketia leaving the event grounds last Saturday

The mono-party management of the late President John Evans Atta Mills's funeral until lately when Parliament's involvement was activated is the cause of the avoidable challenges which cropped up in the course of the burial arrangements.

We have observed the seeming disagreement between a section of the deceased's family and the state over the omission of certain actions. Although party functionaries have sought to dismiss such persons as less important personalities in the family, we think that had the space been opened from the initial stages of the arrangement, some of the lapses could have been obviated.

Be that as it may, we acknowledge gleefully that somebody discovered the blunder in limiting what should be a national affair to a partisan matter and accordingly reversed it.

The death of a president in office is a matter for all Ghanaians given the fact that the office holder is head of state for the whole country and not supporters of the ruling party.

It is for this reason that we found it preposterous the remark by NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia, which disturbed the largely still political waters during the period of mourning.

While some persons were surprised at the remarks, others were cynical, stating that they did not expect anything better from a man whose stock-in-trade is making unsavoury utterances.

At a time the whole country had decided to show respect to the departed leader by steering away from insults, the worst thing to do is to incite political opponents to foul-mouth their colleagues. That the General Secretary would stoop so low as to dismiss the expression of condolences by members of the largest opposition party in the country upon the death of the president as not necessary was an action reckless in nature.

Just when the death of the former First Gentleman was thought to have unified what was a polarized nation, the likes of Asiedu-Nketia are almost ready to cast the first stone of political vituperative.

Let us appreciate the fact that politics which we now seek to identify people with is a wrong move which should not be so.

Is there any person in the NDC besides the late president's spouse and brother who know him better than Nana Akufo Addo and Mr. Osafo-Maafo? Both gentlemen, especially the latter, were childhood acquaintances of the deceased and for the party scribe to seek to ridicule the grief shown by them as nonsense and mere shedding of crocodile tears was another proof of how far politics has sunk in our country.

May the soul of the former president rest in peace even as the Asiedu Nketias, by their action, show how little they have learnt about the realities of life.