Can’t we do decent politics?

THIS paper is compelled to re-visit the subject of our way of doing politics in this country, which more or less could be described as politics of insults, mudslinging with aspects that could best be described as “You do me I do you.”
BEFORE we even continue with our submissions, we on this paper condemn in no uncertain terms alleged inferences by an NPP activist to the effect that President Mills is a gay.
JOHN Kumah was alleged to have made statements implying that President Mills is a homosexual in direct response to what he says were insults hurled at the NPP flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, by an NDC activist on the same discussion programme on Hot FM.
THE obvious truth is that our style of politics continues to sink with each passing day and it looks like we are comfortable practising the politics of insults.
AND even after Mr. Kumah was released on the orders of the president he is now throwing his weight about and describing his arrest by the police as an honour, a path to stardom. What a shame! FROM Mr. Kumah’s posture there is no way he will show remorse for using that foul language on the first gentleman of the Republic of Ghana.
WE at Today are extremely worried that if something immediate is not done about the politics of insults that has become a part of our democratic dispensation it would take a serious nose-dive, when the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections clock starts ticking.
MEMBERS and faithful (s) of the so-called two dominant political parties in the country – the NDC and the NPP – seem to be consummating this politics of insults already, and one shudders to forecast where it could lead Ghana.
TODAY, we see elements in the governing NDC party complaining about NPP members raining insults on the president and the next time it will be NPP members who will be complaining. All we on Today are saying is that it is about time the leadership of these two political parties began to seriously educate their members on how to do decent politics.
BOTH NDC and NPP members must know that politics is not a platform to trade insults and mudsling each other, but a means to trade ideas and see how best to contribute our possible best to make Ghana a prosperous nation. We can change the way we do politics by taking a cue from what is practised in advanced democracies such as the US, UK, etcetera.
TODAY seriously thinks the two political parties need to do something drastic about the way their members do politics in this country, and the time for them to start is now. We need to act now to ensure that the politics of insults, which seems to have become a part of our system, does not degenerate into nasty and bloody incidents in the near future.