A MOTHER’S LOVE; LESSONS FOR ALL POLITICIANS!!!

Barack Obama once said 'America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings'. His comment was affirmed by the Dalai Lama when he said 'In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.

There is a lot of intolerance in our body politicking, and I think that if we can put an end to it, it will be of enormous benefits to all of us. This piece is based on my personal observations I have done over the years on how our politicians relate to their constituents.

As I sat in a bus travelling from Cape Coast to Takoradi one fine evening, just a day after the 2012 general elections in my motherland; Ghana, I noticed how a mother's love could be of immense help for all of us, especially politicians.

I was travelling back home to make some assessment for a reportage for my radio station; ATL FM, on the overthrow of the incumbent Member of Parliament of my constituency; Ahanta West in the Western Region. That day as I travelled on the bus, I had one headline on my mind; 'the Mugabe of Ahanta West Constituency has been unseated at last'!

I was really thinking about the angle to take for my reportage. Then fortunately for me, a woman boarded the bus and came to sit by me, with her child. This woman was in her late twenties and her child will be about two and a half old years old. She told me her name is Auntie Ekua; a typical fanti woman. As usual of mothers, Auntie Ekua not only curdled her son, she made the little boy laugh throughout the time we were on the bus. I then said to myself; 'nothing can be compared to a mother's love'.

Auntie Ekua is one of the mothers who treasure their children and do everything to make them happy and to feel blessed for such a parent. Suddenly, the song titled; 'sweet mother' by one of my favourite Nigerian artist, Prince Nico Mbarga, came to mind, a song that Auntie Ekua's little boy will, one day, sing to her.

With a quick flashback, I thought of my 'long-gone' mother. The woman I have given the caption; 'The best Mum that anybody could ever wish for'. She started the journey into building me into the man I would later be, and giving me and my siblings one of the best foundations every child could wish for in life; 'education'. We used to call her 'Sweet Helena', and she will respond by calling us 'my wonderful boys' (since we were all boys). I remember how clearly 'Sweet Helena' will punish us, and yet make it a sweet pain to endure.

She used to remind us every day of the need to take our education serious and focus on greater achievements in life. At times, she will tell us of how she did not get anybody to put her through school, but she will do her best for us, and that we should just promise her we will always be the good boys we had always been. Whatever I am today, I owe it all to her. Her memory still lives on, even though she is long gone.

However, it wasn't always rosy. There were times I would wrong her very seriously, and deserve the wrath of her anger, yet 'Sweet Helena' always forgave me, and with a usually beautiful smile, she will show her forgiveness with a huge hug, after I apologise for the wrong doing. By that, there was always peace at home, and I learnt gradually not to offend her and how to live with others in peace.

So with Auntie Ekua and Sweet Helena's illustration of their love for their children, it tells us that it is better to be forging ahead in unity, no matter the kind of wrong we do to ourselves!

RELEVANCE OF THIS TO MPs
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.

Mostly, what we see in Ghana is that after elections, MPs tend to show selective justice and bias towards their opponents. I think politics is a debate of ideas, and it should be left at that. If someone is your political opponent, the person only disagrees with you on the basis of ideas and possibly traditions, and does not mean that the two are bound to be enemies for life.

There have been situations when MPs even become selective in the distribution of MP's common fund benefits. They only dash them out to their party cronies and their children, forgetting that they are not MPs only for these people but for a whole constituency that is made up of those who oppose him as well as those who supported him.

I have witnessed situations when MPs will not even be open to their perceived opponents. Ghanaian politicians have had to put up this behaviour just because they do not want to be opposed on anything, and that cannot be possible in the thing we call; democracy. When you decide to go into politics, you should also decide to be tolerant and tolerant in the highest level.

John F. Kennedy once said “tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others”.

THE ADVICE
I will advice that MPs put aside their political colours immediately they are elected and work for the total good of their entire constituents. MPs must emulate our sweet mothers and forgive their opponents, and work with them to promote peace and the development of their respective constituencies. Just as President Kennedy said 'tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs, but rather condemn the oppression or persecution of others', MPs should not persecute their opponents by being intolerant to them. They should rather bring them closer to themselves and plan to develop their constituency together.

Mother Ghana deserves better. The intolerance of our MPs has caused her much. Let us change our way of politics for the sake of 'Sweet Mother Ghana'!