Different Colours, One People

Rebecca Akufo-Addo congratulating her husband, Nana Akufo-Addo, after he has been inaugurated as President of the Republic of Ghana

Let me first own up before anybody raises a case of plagiarism against me in this era of pedestrian assessors with open eyes ready to mark our scripts. The above title is taken from one of the tracks of the late South African reggae star, Lucky Dube, on the album, 'Victims'. I told my cherished readers last week that I was going to join the millions of Ghanaians who would get glued to their television sets to watch the investiture of the then President-elect Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.

I had travelled to Accra on the Thursday for a private business and had to rush back to Takoradi early Friday to prepare myself for the beautiful occasion in the offing. I am happy to report that I missed nothing. I believe those of us who watched the events from our homes were not shortchanged. I have lived long enough to witness a few of such inaugurations of Presidents and am very proud to be alive to witness another of such. During the inauguration of former President Kufuor at the forecourt of Parliament House, I was physically at the event and might have lost a few occurrences, all the others I witnessed from afar.

I had told you my readers last week that I wanted to hide my tears from the public, and indeed those tears did come. I am sure I was not alone in this, when I saw the eyes of both the First and Second Ladies blinking and the regaled ladies fighting back their tears, they were just being human. Having seen their husbands go through the risky and difficult ventures of campaigning throughout the country, the sleepless nights and the travelling on bumpy roads and unmotorable alleys and bush paths, driving on weak and dangerous bridges across the country, sacrificing their family lives and affections and seeing them being sworn into the highest office of the land will surely draw down tears of joy.

At the same time, the tears could reflect the pains they had to go through during the period of campaigning when some other people painted pictures of their husbands which were in direct opposite of what they are. Some opponents of their husbands, who under normal life situations were not qualified to join the domestic staff of their households sat on air and said all manner of things about them without regard to their ages and personal achievements in life, told lies about these gentlemen they only know from afar. I remember one of children with sharp teeth Ministers telling Dr. Bawumia that he (Dr. Bawumia) was a disgrace to his family.

If you are a wife, a child or the mother of Dr. Bawumia, you certainly will shed tears on that day when he officially became the Vice President of this country. Instead of being a disgrace to his family, he is now the pride of not only his family but his entire people. That may have accounted for the Second Lady's tears and perhaps many more that were not captured by the cameras, including mine.

As for those who had predicted that Nana Addo Danquah was never going to be a President of this country, they may still be in wonderland trying to shake off what may be a nightmare to them. It is just real, a reality made possible by the good people of Ghana and not by a few disrespectful people in power then. I could not hold my own tears back when Nana Addo ended the last syllable of 'And So Help Me God'. He became the President of the Republic that very moment.

Those who had said he could never be the President of this country have a choice to re-locate to the Gambia or Syria. Someone whose only strength is in sitting before television cameras and microphones in Radio stations just to denigrate Nana Addo and yet say he is his friend, told us that he was going to ensure that Nana Addo never became the President of Ghana. He was insulting all of us in disguise, yes, he spoke as if our votes were in his wardrobes and that on the day of voting, he was going to pack all of them and thumb print them in a particular way and get a particular results. To those who said they were going to retire Nana Addo, the reality is that his work has just begun.

The President's cloth, which forms the headline of this article, is a formation of different colours and designs, standing distinctively on their own, skillfully woven together to give it the brightness and the beauty and still stand together to serve the purpose for which they were individually brought together to form a cloth. Among the crowd, there were different dresses of different colours, even those who wore white apparel, had some nice colours that adorned them to beautify the occasion. Even though people wore different attires with different colours, the people who gathered there are one and the same people—Ghanaians.

They had undertaken a constitutional duty earlier on, and had congregated on that day to witness the final crowning glory. The cornucopia was just great for the occasion. Our pride on that day was and will still be the envy of many countries the world over. The election outcomes and the subsequent events should tell those of us in politics that humility should be the guiding principles whenever we are in power. Arrogance and disrespect of the electorate is not the way to go in the governance of modern day Ghana.

We are one people no matter how different our colours might be, our differences in whatever sphere of life should not divide this nation. It is also in this light that I want to caution our party people that any unwarranted attack on anyone or group of individuals, their private property or public property, is a crime against the state. It is true that in 2009, some members of the NPP were attacked and even some lost their lives. The case of Agbogbloshie easily comes to mind. I remember, public toilets that had been given out to private people to manage in the Ahanta West District were attacked and the people managing them were chased away.

National Health Insurance Authority offices were attacked and the employees chased out, some were injured and maimed, this happened. The Police Service which has the responsibility of protecting lives and property, be they private or public, sat down unconcerned in the midst of these criminalities. I remember when the then General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow complained about this incidence, Rose Bio Atinga, then Greater Accra Regional Police Commander invited him instead to write a statement, very sad.

But do we have to be engaged in this cycle of needless attacks on ourselves each time there is a change of government? Once again, the Police are incapable of doing anything about it. The NPP as a party or government has not asked anybody or any group of people to seize any public property on behalf of the party or the government. The non-performance of the Police in these cases rather empower criminals in the guise of party people to visit mayhem on innocent people whose only crimes are that they belong to a different political party. Different colours, one people.

We live with them, we do so many things together, we trade among ourselves, we deliver and receive services from among ourselves, why do we blindfold ourselves when there is a change in government and harm ourselves. It is not proper; there must be an end to this political acrimony. The change we are experiencing is not only in respect of changing a government, it is also about a change in our attitudes, the way we do things, our thinking and behavior, our relations among ourselves, mutual respect for one another even as we disagree seriously on issues.

The biggest present our party people can offer President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo is to show to the world that we are a different people in behavior. Dear reader, this column is nine years old this month, and I am thinking of taking a break soon.

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