One Savagery Too Many

Imagine a horde of unruly youth descending on a police station in the Eastern Region while another gang of hoodlums, supported by so-called elders and opinion leaders in the north, seek the head of the President’s representative in a district. The foregone picture is not new to our political setting. It was rampant mid last year but the lull did not convince political watchers that it was all over. Elsewhere in this issue, the story of the Eastern Region incident is captured vividly, as that of the attack on the DCE in the north was carried in yesterday’s publication. The scenarios, as described in the preceding paragraphs, point at the fact that the anomalies are part of the realities of our politics today. That they happened just under a week ago is even more worrying. It is saddening that such scenes have found space in our socio-political milieu. The police, through mostly no reason of their making, are left helpless as the nasty developments unfold. Given their competence even in the face of inadequate logistics, such acts of indiscipline can be managed by our police if politicians are given the opportunity to do their work without interference. In spite of many of such unruly political acts recorded in the country, nobody, to the best of our knowledge, has been arraigned. With the label of “political” however, these are informal “no go areas” for our uniformed brothers and sisters. During such unusual times, such areas should be avoided by all means. Should any police intervention be made, such efforts should be superficial not the “quell and take legal action” option. Anything outside the foregone can lead to dismissal or even transfer to places far away from the urban centres by angry politicians. While we chastise the Police for sometimes not living up to expectation, when political matters crop up, we ignore the realities as stated in the preceding paragraphs. We condemn totally these acts of unruliness by a section of persons in the NDC because of their effects on the political milieu. We demand the opening of a new chapter in the relationship between the police and the political class, especially those in power, at any given time. We wonder what respect those persons behind these acts of indiscipline have for the President of the Republic when they turn their wrath on the Number One Citizen’s representative in their districts in such crude and abominable fashion. Indeed, the District Chief Executive (DCE) who escaped from the irate citizens of his district could have been lynched. We can just conjecture the fallouts from such a development had the savage-like action succeeded in meeting its objective of snuffing life out of the man President Mills appointed to represent him in the district. In the colonial era and in post-independence Ghana, these were powerful government agents called district commissioners. Today, thanks to a deteriorated system, they have been reduced to officials who can be chased out of office by hoodlums, with the police and the President looking on unconcerned. Ghana, without doubt, has deteriorated in terms of discipline and we shudder to wonder what 2012 would look like, given the strides the youth have made in mastering the art of unruliness in response to political developments. We demand statements of condemnation from not only the Minister of the Interior but the President whose office and authority are being undermined by such actions. Silence and even succumbing to the whims of such elements in the districts is detrimental to the development of our political culture.