GHANA IS POLARISED

…On political, ethnic lines
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: Friday, July 25, 2008
Years after the Justice Amoah-Sekyi-led National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) submitted its report findings and recommendations, the Ghana National Party (GNP) believes the country is still polarised on political and ethnic lines.
GNP believes that the rational behind the recent national awards by President Kufuor has been defeated by the very fact that it failed to reconcile the nation.
“Ghana National Party views the aftermath of the whole award process as unhealthy and very divisive”, it said.
This was contained in a statement signed by the party’s Deputy General Secretary, Eric Sarpong.
Though Ghana has sunk huge sums of money into the process of national reconciliation, he thinks “The political climate is still volatile and polarised.”
There are also strong indications that the country is polarised along ethnic lines.
This, he said was evident in the fact that the likes of former President Jerry John Rawlings, Professor John Evans Atta Mills and other members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), refused to go for the award.
Whilst admitting that no one could fault them for their individual or collective decision not to go for the awards, the GNP also condemned inferences drawn by the NDC over their protestation of the prosecution of former boss of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata. The Party holds the view that those who have embezzled state funds should be made to pay for their crimes.
The GNP is alos of the view that the development of the nation has greatly retrogressed as a result of bribery, corruption, stealing and wilful misappropriation of public funds, stressing that “holding people accountable for their selfish misdeeds should not stop attempts at national reconciliation.”
In any event, the party holds the belief that “political opponents are not enemies and must therefore be fairly treated under the norms of the judicial.”
The Ghana National Party considers the amount of US$ 1.5million spent on the purchase of medals for the national awards as not only colossal, but another irresponsible application of state funds that could have otherwise gone into providing the basic necessities of life, like water for the people of Ghana.
It cited the front page story of Friday, July 18, 2008, edition of the ‘Ghanaian Times’ newspaper in which the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Nicholas Westcott was reported to have presented a cocaine expelling machine to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) at a estimated cost of 15,000 pounds sterling, as an example of prudent management of funds, emphasising that “this is an example of civilised application of resources.”
Though the GNP finds nothing wrong with awarding medallions to deserving citizens who have excelled in national development efforts in science and technology, research and other disciplines of exceptional marks of service to the nation, it noted that the selection of recipients for the awards could have been limited to a few deserving ones, since in its own words “that could have made the whole exercise more meaningful and competitive, instead of blanket awards.”
It thus stressed the belief that the amount of money used for the exercise would not have risen to the level that created uproar among some Ghanaians, noting that Ghana as a country is well resourced.
“Therefore, we believe that the basics, classified under human survival needs of our people must be a priority. We have failed to establish the infrastructure to provide jobs for our people because governments for the past four decades failed to prioritise the needs of the country. We buy a Presidential plane when we feel like it. We decide to implement an idea as long as a development partner decides to grant us loans”, it emphasised.
Though, there is intense political bickering and animosity between the two major political parties in the country, as a result of some burning issues, including the sale of Ghana Telecom, the Ghana National Party has advised all political parties contesting the 2008 elections to organise a clean and violent-free campaign.
It has further asked the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to assure the people of Ghana that there will be no incumbent manipulation throughout the campaign stage, voting time and the post election period, stressing “let the winner emerge fairly and whoever losses must accept defeat peacefully.”