The lyrics of a popular reggae song go something like this: “Ghana politics, it is all about Rawlings and Kufuor.” In the song, the singer describes the HIPC Junction residence of Prez Kufuor, through the Air Port road to the Boom Junction of ex-Prez Rawlings as the key corridor of power in Ghana.
The irony as I see it from my pint-sized vantage point is that the unfortunate key feature of that powerful corridor, that is also ‘The Gateway into Ghana’, is the endless line-up of street children who are mortgaging their future selling made-in-China goods to take care of their current needs. Real politics is like a contact sport, played on the rich privileged side of the divide while the poor and the deprived look on, at best as willing but confused cheer leaders and spectators.
So it is that as Election Day approaches, the voices of former President Jerry John Rawlings and that of current President John Agyekum Kufuor have taken on a certain presence and an unholy loudness on our fragile political horizon. What is troubling is that instead of using their voices to sooth us, to hopefully turn us toward something noble that is greater than ourselves, they are drawing us into rough territories of divisiveness that is only reflective of the anaemic nature of their relationship.
Together, they are concretising an unfortunate political tradition of bad blood between past and present presidents. But worst of all, together, they present a very potent poison for the December 7 elections as the negative energy between them looms over our politics. They are not simply in opposition; they are operating in enemy territories as lose canons. These days, whenever I hear news reports about their pronouncements, I tremble in fear.
From how short I stand, these two men are giants; tall, enormous and glamorous. And they are the two living ‘Fathers’ of our nation, occupying very privileged positions. They own the two mightiest bully pulpits on this soil so therefore whatever they say any-day any-time any-how any-where become big news that take on lives of their own. It is said that to whom much is giving, much is expected. Unfortunately, the quality of their relationship makes a fail grade. What a shame!
But the key problem in their toxic relationship is that the venom spills over to contaminate our already not so clean political waters. The toxicity shows in the regular distasteful cocktails of verbal attacks and counter attacks from the two Johns. An endless string of ‘he said’, ‘he said’ follows in rapid succession, by courtesy of their supporters who join in with further inelegant cocktails of insults to each other. Consistently, the FM stations re-echo the bitterness, hostility and taunting that emanate from these Johns, feeding the NDC-NPP rivalry. Together, they give voice to the negativity that is becoming the characteristic of our politics and provide rich material to hyper-ventilating serial callers, stirring their blood for action.
I wish I could be a fly on the wall to glean into the full story of their relationship history. Clearly, they’ve known each other for a long time. President Kufuor even served in Flt Lt Rawlings’ PNDC administration as the first Secretary of Local Government at the beginning of this country’s decentralization experiment. We ordinary Ghanaians don’t know the full story of what really happened between them, how the deep hatred they appear to have for one another evolved. Yet, they’re drawing us into their funk. That is not fair.
Kufuor and Rawlings behave like an odd couple, estranged and entangled in a bad marriage over private matters. Then they go to town, talking evil about each other to anyone who will listen. I wonder: Did they ever have good times? What was it like between them during the good times? Did they quaff alcohol together? Was it beer, whisky or gin? What conversations did they have? What laughter? What was the nature of their hand shakes – ‘high-fives’ or knuckle cracks?
But now they seem to hate each other like hell – with disgust and distaste. But when two presidents named John fight, it’s the ground that suffers. I’m part of the ground and I’m feeling bruised by the negativity in the rhetoric of Kufuor and Rawlings. I’m tired of both of them. I’m suffering from Rawlings-Kufuor fatigue and irritation. Or, is it just me?
Things that can’t go on forever don’t. The hatred between Kufuor and Rawlings, especially the dangerous spill-overs into our body politic can’t go on forever. It is unhealthy. But I want to wish that if Akuffo-Addo wins, another round of hatred between him and Rawlings will not show its ugly head, and continue to spill off more toxicity into our politics.
Before, during and after Election Day, the two Johns must calm down and put an end to all heated and hateful rhetoric. Preferably, they should not mount party platforms and/or speak to the media until the results have been announced and the dust has settled. Better still, they should keep down the explosive rhetoric until long after the losers have licked their wounds while the winners are ‘managing’ to remember the many promises they made to us as they salivate over Cape Three Points sweet crude oil.
Here is why. The two Johns have mouths that are like guns; no – canons. They behave like two bullies on the block. They muddy our waters. Meanwhile, the elections are NOT about them. They will NOT be on the ballot. Since their pronouncements tend to be divisive, we are better off if they back off the politics of Ghana for the time being.
Rawlings has a reputation for ‘boom’ speeches. Rawlings knows boom. Rawlings talks boom. But on the flip side, I have never liked the utterances of President Kufuor when he mounts NPP platforms. Once he begins to speak in his native language, Ashanti Twi, he freely interlaces his utterances with proverbs that can be interpreted in various ways, depending on who is doing the interpretation. His speeches on those platforms are boom-like, and divisive. What to do? Prez Kufuor should only speak as President of Ghana and leader of us all on national platforms, but NOT on NPP campaign platforms.
So for election 2008, which is not about Rawlings and/or Kufuor who have served their time and are not eligible to ascend to the presidency again, they must stay away from making inflammatory pronouncements. We need them as elder statesmen not as matches to light our fire; not to trigger and unglue us into something unrecognizable.
So on behalf of the youth of Ghana, I send a message from my daughter Darkoa to President Kufuor and ex-President Rawlings: ‘Cool down for Jesus.’ They should exit from the tender centre of Ghanaian politics and stay behind as elder statesmen. If they continue to carry on this same way, they might unintentionally provide ammunitions to some damn broke blood-thirsty angry fellows to push our beloved country towards the nursery rhyme:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
And all the King’s horses, And all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!
0208286817; dorisdartey@yahoo.com
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