The Analogue Politicians of a Digital Age

TIME with the GOVERNOR

Last Tuesday during a reaction to a grading system by the Africawatch magazine on the performance of President Mills, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, (Sir John) chose to use the medium to run the Mills administration down by insisting that the government deserved aggregate A for doing nothing.
According to him, the fact that he hardly knows the foreign minister means that the NDC administration was doing less in terms of foreign policy. Sadly in a sharp response to these criticisms, Honourable Kobby Acheampong, Deputy Minister of Tourism, described the NPP general secretary “Kokoase Kurasini” and went further to attack his orientation and the group of people who oriented him. Hence, arousing various comments from Kumasi; as I seek to address the topic of insults in Ghana politics, I seek not to isolate this case.
Few months ago, a newspaper review program on Metro TV in Accra was converted to an insulting arena when an aide to the vice-president engaged Ms. Ursula Owusu, a staunch NPP member, in what I call abusive bout. The result was a protest by women groups in the country that John Jinapor should apologise to all women in Ghana for calling Ursula a prostitute.
The book of the chronicle of insult in Ghana politics cannot be closed without making mention of how certain individuals in the then UP descended heavily on President Nkrumah anytime they disagreed with his policies. The least said of the songs composed when cedi notes with President Nkrumah’s image started showing their “ugly” faces in Ghana’s economy.
The emergence of the Rawlings’ in the politics of the country has also come with its own insults since the man in question is also not a saint of verbal abuses. On his part, he has chosen to label all presidents the country has had since independence incompetent of ruling Ghana apart from himself. He even compared President Kufuor to “Ataa Ayi” to signify his level of corruption.
Former President Kufuor on his part also referred to Mr. Rawlings as “Sasabonsam” to perhaps show how he was really terrifying himself and his administration. Members of Parliament like Honourable P.C Appiah-Ofori and others have similarly shared in the national cake of insults with the latter going as far as insulting Osabarima Kwesi Atta.
While many are at fault for descending into the dirty gutters of Ghana politics, I must single out certain young ministers in the current administration. Since assuming public office, these ministers have either changed or are now showing their true colours. They have chosen to insult every citizen of this land who calls on the current administration to respond to their needs, thereby, defeating the calls by the President for the need to observe decorum in our national politics.
While Hon. Rojo Mettle-Nunoo was at his wits-best insulting nurses, the deputy minister for education chose to insult the intelligence of UTAG members by branding them liars. Perhaps, it is their agenda to insult all elders to consolidate their positions. However, they must be aware of the sayings of former US President that “No insult has ever built a bridge or healed a sick child or fed a hungry person.”
The most embarrassing aspect is how Ghana has all of sudden fallen short of elders who could call these young men to order; or has they made it part of their plans to be remembered as the insulting ministers who terrorized workers and elders with insults?

The politics of insults is indeed portraying to Ghanaians how anachronistic our politicians are. In the 21st century, the kind of politics that go on is politics of issues and consensus and it is time our politicians returned to the classroom of Professor Mills to learn to use decent words when politicking.

Insults are harmful to our politics. They inhibit informed debate and heighten tensions in our society unnecessarily. Perhaps, the complaint by Ursula Owusu that insults discourage good men from getting involved in our politics is enough to drum home the need for us to do away with politics of insults.
And since we do not seek to write an encyclopedia of political insult in this country, it is better to agree with the good men that the politics of insults must stop and people who are living in ‘stone age’ of politics be transformed to digital politicians. How do we then minimize this kind of politics?
Debates that are sharp, that sometimes express strong views, without going into insults should be encouraged by us.
The media must also take responsibility for everything that goes on air. There are times when most words can be prevented from coming into the public domain. It is also time that programs which generate unnecessary tension in the country are cancelled. The hosts of these programs should also be fired from their posts.
The National Media Commission must sanction media houses that approve of misguided comments from otherwise honourable men and women in the country. We are sick and tired of their irresponsible comments!
Law enforcement in the country must be consistent. It is wrong when certain people are arrested whiles others go free for making the same comments. Like Arthur Kennedy said, “unless public safety is directly threatened, the media, public opinion and the courts must be allowed to deal with issues that arise from the irresponsible exercise of our rights to free speech.”
Whiles the media is questioned from engaging the services of insulting panelists, political parties must also desist from sending insulting personalities to represent them on radio and TV discussions. Media houses would forever be appreciated when they prevent and sanction certain individuals from attending their programs.
Lastly, Ghanaians must also disapprove of insulting networks and refrain from celebrating insulting personalities as heroes. What kind of hero is a man with a lose tongue who can set Ghana at blaze?
It is therefore better that we seek to bring Ghanaian politics from its antiquity stage to a more digital one because we can never seek to build a better nation with insulting ministers and parliamentarians.