Tuesday,
July 22, 2014
The
West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) is warning of a revolution in
Ghana if government fails to address the growing workers agitations and
protests across the country. Isaac Bayor (Coordinator of the Network) told
Joy News that while the revolution may not take the form of the Arab Spring, the
powers-that-be must not underestimate the widespread agitations in the country.
He added that elements who may have other aspirations could infiltrate these
demonstrations to cause mayhem in the country. (See: http://myjoyonline.com/news/2014/July-22nd/workers-demonstrations-wanep-warns-of-revolution-in-ghana-if.php).
I
like this part of the WANEP Coordinator’s observation: “elements who may have
other aspirations could infiltrate these demonstrations to cause mayhem in the
country”. Is causing mayhem tantamount to the REVOLUTION that WANEP is
forewarning the government (and Ghanaians, generally) about? A revolution in a
democracy? For whom to take over the rein of government? A scary but manageable
premonition?
Folks, we have already read
deeper meanings into the ongoing agitations in the country to suggest that they
are catalyzed by many factors and being masterminded by diverse interest and
pressure groups for various purposes. Organized labour has genuine concerns but
if its street demonstrations are turned into “political trump-cards” to be
played by those desperate for the political power that eluded them at the
general elections, the situation could become explosive. These agitations must
be placed in context and analyzed for their entailments.
From the labour front, it is
understandable that the government’s failure to solve the economic problems,
coupled with the high tariffs on utility services, hikes in the prices of
petroleum products and transport fares with the resultant high cost of food,
provides a genuine cause for open demonstration of anger and frustration by
workers. On top of that, wages and salaries haven’t matched the intermittent
and wanton increases in the prices of goods and services, even though other
measures including high taxes have combined to worsen living conditions.
However patient and tolerant the workers may be, their balloon of patience will
definitely burst at a point. What is planned for Thursday is the culmination;
and it threatens to add to the government’s woes.
Behind these agitations at the
labour front are political interests too. We are already aware of threats by
opponents of the Mahama-led administration to make the cou9ntry ungovernable
after they had lost the 2012 general elections and futilely attempted forcing
the political river to flow upstream. I am talking about the NPP and its agenda
of frustrating the government. Its leaders and followers have done and said a
lot to reinforce that threat.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of
the party (a so-called Chairman Wontumi) brazenly said that he would do all in
his power to foment the Ghanaian version of the “Arab Spring” that would kick
President Mahama out of office. Subtle and brazen acts have been done to that
effect but to no avail.
Picking the pieces, surrogates of
the NPP (the Alliance for Accountable Governance, AFAG), for instance, have
also been waging their own kind of war against the government, making weird
allegations and creating disaffection for the government.
Those members of the clergy who
have turned themselves into politicians in cassock have also added a new
complexion to the agitations, using their pulpit to undermine the government
and cause public disaffection for it. The Rev. Owusu Bempah and the Methodist
Priest of Obuasi (Bosomtwe) are leading the pack, bad-mouthing the government
and reinforcing whatever is put out there by the known political opponents.
The group calling itself “Concerned Ghanaians for Responsible
Governance (CGRG)” and claiming to be non-political and non-partisan is also
thickening the open challenge to the government, instituting a “Red Friday” and
an “OccupyFlagstaffHouse” presence in cyberspace, even as it intensifies its
mobilization of support for its cause to undercut the government.
In
all that these groups are doing, they seem to be united by one common factor:
to push the government to the wall, hoping that it will either deploy the
security apparatus to attempt clamping down on them so they can move to the
next stage of their agitations or that it will be scared by the affront to it
and introduce measures to solve the economic problems. Of course, everyone
expects the government to solve problems so Ghanaians can live decent lives.
However, there is more to the open agitations going on.
Only
a pathological fool will close his mind to these happenings, narrow everything
down to a mere expression of frustration at the situation in the country, or
dismiss them as the workings of petty troublemakers. There is a high
probability that these street demonstrations can degenerate into total anarchy,
which will feed into the political agenda of those anti-Mahama politicians
wishing to see the back of the NDC. In sum, then, it can be inferred from the
manner in which these strike actions and street demonstrations are erupting
that they are not merely spontaneous reactions to the economic situation but
careful planned and coordinated efforts to achieve a political goal.
That
is why the government has to sit up. From what has transpired so far, it is
clear that sentiments are “hot” and bitter and that any miscalculated move by
the authorities could backfire. As we have seen already from the nasty comment
made by a staff member of the United States Embassy in Accra to President
Mahama’s message on Twitter, there is cause to pause for sober reflection. That retort from the cyberspace
of the US Embassy is a wake-up call for President Mahama to redirect his
attention to other areas, especially nationwide broadcasts to air his views on
issues bothering Ghanaians.
Let me prophesy here that the US
Embassy faux pas has definitely turned the searchlight on his use of social
media and opened the floodgates for worse comments to be made in the near
future by those opposing and bad-mouthing him all over the place. They will
cash in and retort horribly to anything coming from him henceforth. That is the
more reason for him to redirect his energy to better ways of directly
communicating with the people. Will he see things as some of us are doing?
If these agitations and street
demonstrations spill over, they could feed into the agenda of the politicians
desperately seeking political power but who have no patience to do so through
the ballot box. In a democracy, such tendencies are misplaced. And a democracy
that doesn’t solve problems to improve the living standards of the people is
not worth sustaining. Is that where we are in Ghana today?
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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