Thursday,
June 14, 2012
As we move toward Election 2012,
much exists to portend danger. The conflicts erupting all over the country and
the government’s over-reliance on the security services make me wonder how the
situation will be like if politically motivated conflicts take the centre-stage
to worsen the national security situation.
The approach toward handling these
conflicts gives much cause for concern. These isolated conflicts have already
strained the nerves of our police and military service. I haven’t heard any of
them complain, but I am reading a deeper meaning into their deployment all over
the place to suggest that if we don’t handle things properly, they will be exhausted
long before the real need for them arises.
Certainly, I see them as dancing
themselves lame before the actual dancing begins (thanks to Chinua Achebe).
Just one instance. From the way
the aggrieved residents of Ho took the battle to the police last week, forcing
them to retreat to their barracks and pursuing them to cause mayhem, I am
tempted to guess that the police aren’t fully prepared to handle situations of
the sort. They can be easily overwhelmed.
So will it be for similar
situations erupting in other parts of the country. We must admit the fact that
the segment of the population not in the security services or trained for
conflict resolution far outweighs that of those now being relied on to ensure
peace in the country.
The fear is that if such a huge
population becomes engulfed in conflicts, the security situation will get out
of hand because our security services stand being swamped and over-run.
Already, so much of them is being spent on operations in the existing conflict
zones. As new conflicts erupt and more are pushed to the forefront, disaster
looms.
Let’s not forget other factors. As
human beings, these security personnel have their own ethnic and religious sentiments
and we will be foolish to put all our trust and confidence in them to save us
from the cataclysm that is gradually being forged with these isolated
conflicts.
The capacities of the Ghana
Police Service and the military have already been overstretched to the breaking
point. As the spate of these conflicts persists, there is ample concern that
more pressure will be put on the security services to intervene in the conflict
zones. Is that when the Special Forces Unit will step in? I cringe!!
Although such interventions may
help stop the internecine ethnic or religious conflicts, they are not the
long-term solution that can help ensure peace and tranquility. It’s just a
stop-gap measure.
The overarching measure to do so
lies more in the hands of the people themselves and the government as the
overall supreme authority of the land. How willing are these to resolve
misunderstandings before they explode into these conflicts?
At this time that major partisan political
rallies are yet to begin throughout the country, I am afraid that if the differences
triggering these conflicts are not tackled expeditiously, they will become the
tinder to ignite more damaging conflicts.
There is already every good reason
to be apprehensive. Considering the scare-mongering politics of those
desperately pushing to rule the country, the conditions seem to be ripening for
explosions. I have in mind the despicable “All-die-be-die” scare-mongering
slogan of Akufo-Addo and Kennedy Agyapong’s genocidal pronouncements, which are
capable of plunging the society into chaos if capitalized on by trouble makers.
What has happened so far at
Nakpanduri, Tishigu, Akumfi Eguase, and Hohoe is horrifying, although it will
be height of stupidity to attribute it to the “All-die-be-die” war cry or
Agyapong’s hotheaded utterances. In any event, those politically motivated
clarion calls haven’t yet been heeded to warrant any apportioning of blame to
Akufo-Addo and Agyapong.
The potential danger posed by
such utterances may be felt if political violence becomes the order of the day.
As of now, the conflicts can’t be described as politically induced. They are
pure instances of tempers (ethnic or religious) boiling over.
I am deeply concerned—and so
should you be too—that these conflicts are erupting left and right in the
country as if there is no urgency for peaceful co-existence among the citizens.
Some of the factors promoting
these conflicts are the already-known ethnic sentiments, land and chieftaincy disputes,
and religious differences that have perennially torn many communities apart. We
must not hesitate to condemn these conflicts in the harshest terms and to blame
those who instigate them.
We bring to mind such major
conflict situations as have persisted in Dagbon (Yendi, especially) and Bawku.
The inability of the government and the feuding parties to resolve such
conflicts is a disgrace. It seems the government is more interested in relying
on the so-called peace-keeping effort than in taking any long-lasting action to
solve the root cause of the problem.
The occasional sporadic fighting
that erupts in Bawku or the skirmishes in Yendi despite the huge presence of
the security services confirms that peace-keeping is not the final solution.
For how long will these security services be stationed in those areas? Can’t
anybody in authority put on his thinking cap at the right angle to see things
more clearly?
Normalcy has been negatively
affected in those conflict zones and the citizens can’t live their lives in
peace and go about their socio-economic activities to contribute their quota
toward national development. The negative impact of such conflicts on the
national economy is unquantifiable, which should have prompted more effectual
action by the government to tackle the problems in those areas; but it is not
doing anything concrete. It is waiting for an electioneering campaign occasion
to make vain promises.
It is a painful irony that these
conflicts are erupting indiscriminately all over the country at the time that a
President labelled as “Asomdwehene” is in charge of affairs but isn’t proactive
enough—or even concerned as some of us are—to take any initiative. It is a
contradiction that President Mills cannot escape—and he will definitely feel the
full brunt of it at Election 2012.
It is not as if one is heaping
the blame on President Mills to score any political point against him. After
all, before his assumption of office, there had been numerous conflicts of all
kinds in this country. Since time out of mind, internecine battles have erupted
between members of different ethnic groups. The most devastating of such
conflicts was the one between the Konkombas and Nanumbas at the time Rawlings
was in power. Other pockets of conflicts induced by ethnic differences occurred
elsewhere too.
We acknowledge the fact that
there are many reasons to confirm that the conflicts will not abate for as long
as causes exist for them. And there are many causes in all parts of the country
where people of different ethnic extractions, worldviews, political interests,
and life-expectations live side-by-side.
The nub of it all is the attitude
that the government, especially the President, adopts toward settling such
conflicts. To his credit, Rawlings handled affairs well. His resolute and
expeditious tackling of those conflicts prevented them from degenerating into a
widespread national woe.
Although the Bawku crisis had
been on-and-off prior to Kufuor’s assumption of office, the worst one that
flared up under his watch caused much devastation and still persists. Kufuor
didn’t personally play as much of a frontline role as Rawlings had done in
tackling such conflicts. Bawku is still unstable.
Against this background, what is
happening now—especially in this election year—calls forth much apprehension.
There is every indication that as tension builds up between the various
political fronts, more vim will be mustered up and added to the indifferences
among the people during political campaigns, which will constitute the powder
keg to threaten national security.
We suppose that if the government
doesn’t act judiciously now to stem any future threat, it will be difficult for
it to do so when the situation worsens. And that worsening will not be far off.
Very soon, heated national campaigns by the various parties will begin.
Considering the open display of uncompromising tendencies by activists of the rival
political parties, we can’t fail to foresee doom.
Although President Mills has
given the assurance that his government will preserve peace before, during, and
after the elections, I am skeptical at this point. Mere grandiose
pronouncements don’t persuade me that the government can do so. It may be
counting on the security services to move in to quell any trouble; but how much
can these security services do simultaneously all over the country? Their capabilities
are not inexhaustible.
The more the government pushes
them on to tackle such problems, the more it will be sending out the wrong
signal that it can’t control the situation, which will be a good justification
for an unscrupulous strongman in the military to advance and…… (You can fill
the gap). But we want our democracy to survive.
The government should help us stem
the tide. It shouldn’t just be interested in providing logistics and staying
aloof from all that has been happening so far. The essence of democracy is the
peaceful co-existence that it ensures for all the citizens whose contributions sustain
it.
Our democracy isn’t growing in
the right manner to assure us that it can serve our needs. We are just feeding
it with the benefits of our toil, which the politicians are reaping with savage
glee and alacrity. That’s not what we’ve gambled for.
All these conflicts erupting here
and there in the country are clear indications that the stage is being set for
a national disaster in this election year. The government has to do more than
just pushing the security services into conflict zones. Pre-emptive steps must
be taken to avert all these conflicts. What are the BNI and the analogous
intelligence-gathering institutions doing to help detect the potential volatile
situation even long before it crystallizes?
Our democracy will benefit if
such security apparatus do their legitimate assignments properly instead of
spreading themselves too thin all over the place, serving too many infinitesimal
purposes for parochial political gains. By pre-occupying themselves with such
politically inclined petty assignments and neglecting the major risks that are
now manifesting as social strife in the country, the BNI and all those
institutions give us cause to lose sleep. Why should we continue sustaining
them with our blood, toil, and sweat?
And why should President Mills
ask for votes to remain in office if he isn’t helping us live in peace?
E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
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