Political Life Without Danger

“There should be no danger in political life” was one of the highlights of Nana Akufo-Addo’s speech as he bade farewell to the late Adams Mahama, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The memberships of the ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should consider this and be moderate in their management of party affairs.

Political parties, as vehicles for delivering to the country the leadership that would run affairs of state for a given period, should allow decency be their hallmark and not bloodletting.

While the NPP has suffered for the first time the murder of one of its membership, its counterpart now in government can point at a number of such dastardly and criminal acts which should not be denied the political apparels.

We do not seek to present a tale of the tapes of sorts but only embellishing a subject which is important in our efforts at ridding our democracy of indecencies.

In 1992 a constituency chairman of the NDC in Kwesimintsim, Takoradi, Western Region, Imoru Adam, was pushed into a room and doused with petrol. He was then set alight and that ended his life. To date no suspect has been nabbed. Indeed, we can say with certainty that the file on that case has been closed.

In the Volta Region in recent times, a DCE was descended upon and killed in the most gruesome manner. There are other instances which we are unable to tabulate now because of space constraint.

And now Adams Mahama of the NPP is attacked by a duo and concentrated acid sprinkled on him. He did not survive it.

We do not think that political life should be a matter of carnage as we have seen in local politics.

Little wonder some Ghanaians with useful wealth of experience would rather stay on the fringes, denying the country their contribution, than venture into the uncertain bosom of local politics.

That needn’t be so because politics should be about service to humanity and not war. Let us start the journey to decent politics by learning the important lessons offered by those who have died through the hands of blood-thirsty criminals claiming to be doing politics.

It would be inhuman to use as political leverage the death of a person as some seek to do with what befell Adams Mahama, especially since both parties suffered the effects of such criminalities.

We do not want to see the Adams Mahama death follow the path of the NDC Kwesimintsim constituency chairman who was murdered in 1992, especially since a suspect is assisting the police in their investigations.

Such cases are usually given the political tag and left to gather dust in the shelves of the CID headquarters, ending in cul de sacs.

Let the investigations go the full hog and whoever is found responsible for the criminality made to face the full rigours of the law.

Undue delay, which is a recipe for the killing of the case, would not help matters. Speed with precision should guide those in-charge of the case.

Source: Daily Guide