Can President John Dramani Mahama succeed in his goal of getting all political actors in the country to use the death of President John Evans Atta Mills to effectively reshape Ghanaian politics and alter its tone forever as set in his nationwide broadcast to the nation last Wednesday evening?
Against the reality of extreme partisanship in the country�s politics, the President appears to have set a rather ambitious goal.
Already, in a response to the President�s calls for a new politics of tolerance, decorum and respect for dignity of opponents, the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in a statement signed by its General Secretary, has responded that the President�s pleas �are betrayed by his own track record of being the second-in-command of a ruling party that has for nearly four years of its four year term engaged in the politics of divisiveness, tribalism, baseless personal attacks, violence, lies, deceit and propaganda.�
Earlier, the NPP�s chairman, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, had responded that President Mahama�s address to the nation appeared to be taking advantage of the sympathy over President Mills� passing to advance his political goals.
For a politician with so many years of experience, these reactions where probably expected and this is what makes his challenge interesting; what exactly does the President intend to do to change political discourse for the better without always getting into arguments over his actual intentions?
Given the take-no-prisoners type of politics discourse, how exactly does Mahama intend to create a �space in the political arena to compete for political leadership in an atmosphere of decency and dignity?�
Explaining the President�s edicts for decent discourse, for instance, the National Democratic Congress� (NDC) propaganda secretary, Mr. Richard Quashigah said the party (NDC) cannot reasonably be expected to sanction its communicators who cross the line of decency when many a time such comments are only a reaction to similar statements by the NPP.
Such reactions, whether justified or not, means certainly that the President will have a herculean task pushing through his temperate politics agenda.
The President himself was criticized when he dismissed the tearing of hair over where to bury President Mills.
Beyond these verbal gymnastics though, the unavoidable issue is the attractiveness of political power in a Third World country as Ghana.
The experience has been of power coming with unlimited opportunities for patronage, freebies and an almost certain path to immense wealth, no matter the number of institutions and laws passed to avoid abuse.
How to ensure that the competition for such opportunities is devoid of aggression and skullduggery is a tough task.
It may involve actually ensuring that politicians do not make illegitimate gains from their time in office and that is even a far harder task.
Still, the President�s insistent calls for decency may yet make a difference, hopefully leading to the kind of politics that will benefit the large majority of Ghanaians.
Some believe the President may have to crack the whip more to make people take him more seriously. Where and how to crack the whip such that it inures to the benefit of the ordinary citizens of Ghana may be the issue he will have to chew over in order to leave a lasting enviable legacy as President.
<<Print>>