Author:Adjetey Emmanuel
Ghana Institute of Journalism
00233247265478
It is astounding how people still perceive
our country to be the well known democratic country in the West Africa Sub-Region.
Our country, Ghana is claiming to be democratic, meaning free and equal
representation of people and equal right of every person to participate in a
system of government often by the majority of the people. Democracy has been
defined in two-ways in some literatures as; 1. Democratic nation: a nation with
a government that has been freely and equally elected by its citizens.2.
Democratic system of government: a system of government based on the principle
of majority in decision-making. It is obvious and you don’t have to be a
researcher before you can know that in Ghana today, the concept of democracy is
being reduced to two-things;1. Freedom of expression-much of which is very poor
in substance but rich in propaganda, intentional disinformation and distortion
of facts, so long as it serves certain predetermined ends. 2. Periodic
elections-a period during which partisan structures are given a new lease of
life and ethnocentric sentiments are highly hyped up and exploited for the
purpose of winning political power. The self-image and reputation of our dear
nation, Ghana is reducing gradually due to the on and off conflicts among
ethnic groups, religious sects, and even some of our own political leaders.
These are clear things that the country has been facing in recent times. The
intemperate languages, provocative statements from political leaders and their
followers and incitement against one group. These are not acts to be condoned
by the people of Ghana especially the youth. Because these are things that can
plunge the country into absolute chaos and upheaval. Moreover, the democratic
status of the country has been “stained” with blame game. This is true, because
day-after-day if you tune to your radio or television you can unquestionably
attest to the fact. Apparently, we see from the major political parties in the
country: the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) accusing each other for maladministration. If much care is not taken the
peace we enjoy today after attaining our democratic status will become an
illusion. I wonder which schools teach this blame game. However, the repulsive
tribal and ethnocentric verbal punches that these parties and their members keep
throwing heavily like Mike Tyson’s blow at each other is obscuring the democracy
we are practising here Ghana and can plunge the nation into Sturm und Drang.Some
couple of months ago, some people are in great shock and they inquire to know
if whether Ghana is still a democratic country. This is because, why should
religious sects engage in a fight which is highly inimical to good governance.
One can easily recall to the recent conflict among the Moslems and some natives
of Hohoe in the Volta Region. No country specifically a democratic country in
this world can achieve its optimum development in the midst of a conflict. Also,
our politicians must stop practising any aspect of the democracy that is
confrontational and unfriendly to good governance, such as the politically
motivated “Pull-Him-Down” party politics (PHD), which is widely used in
developed countries like America and Britain by parties to undermine their
political opponents, though they do so under “strict cover” in those advance
countries. Such practise can easily leave our country with nothing than a state
of violent disturbance and disorder thus if care is not taken. No country can
achieve the highest form of democracy without her practising the rule of law.
The rule of law basically, it’s a state of order in which events conform to the
law of the nation. Hence, nations without the rule of law, such nations are like books perusing in the
extreme darkness. The rule of law is one of the ethical codes of democracy.
And apparently enough, this code of ethics are not strictly practise here in
Ghana. However, most of the electorates perpetrate the laws of the land or do
things which are not in conformity with the laws of the country and they are
left to go scot free. Is this what we term as democracy? Besides, democracy,
“liberalism”, “civil liberty”, “human right” etc. have not been pushed too far
to be able to support the very pillars and foundation of civilization that they
purport to create and which has taken humankind several thousand of years to
build. If these very pillars are well supported by our political leaders, I strongly
believe our democracy would go back to its natural state. Adding to the
civilization problem is also the issue of recognition of the right to
information. Recognising the right to information and implementing effective
access to information is a simple but extremely useful first step towards
attainment of good governance. Therefore, any democratic country enhancing the
right to information to its citizens is more or less devoid of political
violence since the electorates are given the mandate to air their grievances. The
Aristocratic Frenchman, Alexis
de Tocqueville said: “The
health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions
performed by private citizens”. Ghana is a very small democratic country in the
world hence let us uphold the good name of our dear nation. Peace! Is what we
all need. LONG LIVE GHANA!!!
The Writer is a Student-Journalist at the Ghana Institute of
Journalism. Writer’s
email:adjeteyemmanuel@gmail.com
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