Features
I choose peace over democracy
Nobody would ever think that the smallest attempt to cause civil disorder could gain any momentum in the capital towns of a country that has gained recognition as the champion of civil rights and order in the world.
In fact, I personally believe that it wouldn’t even cross the mind of anyone who has travelled to the seat of the Government of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., that an attempt to thwart and prevent the application of democracy would work.
But all that happened because one person, I mean just one influential leader, decided to incite his followers over a belief that their democratic rights had been abused and compromised.
The amenities and fruits of the democratic system, and the rights and privileges of the citizens of America are so cherished and guarded by almost every segment of American society that, “no one dares to play with any of the above,” whether in politics or just in social and communal discourse.
Beyond all that, the good people of the United States of America have given priority to peace in their homeland over their cherished democratic system.
This is evident in the handling of the actions of the former president, Donald Trump. I am simply referring to the famous insurrection of 2021 in the United States of America.
Nothing equates to the loss of a single life and peace of the people—not even the full gains of democracy over the rule of law and peace.
Barely a week ago, I read on Ghanaweb.com a statement purportedly made by a former diplomat and astute politician that “Ghana would become like Gaza or Ukraine if the electoral commission didn’t allow the electoral register to be audited forensically.”
I equate the above ill-fated and venomous statement to the one
President Trump made to his followers that incited them to overturn the election results in his favour.
In a small country like Ghana, with a population of a little over 35 million people, we cannot afford to lose our sight and grip on the wheels as we strive to maintain our position and commitment as the most peaceful country and the beacon of democracy in the sub-Saharan region.
In our drive and quest to achieve real holistic peace that encompasses total human security—which also invites and accommodates good governance, transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to the needs of the people—we can decide to do away with and sacrifice the type of democracy that Ghana and several African countries are practicing, for peace.
As we hypocritically rain and shower praises and blessings on President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, we are promoting his style of governance and system of living and leadership. Certainly, nobody can assert that our revered President Kagame is really practicing the type of democracy that we are observing and applying here in Ghana today, as we allow some powerful influencers to dictate to us how to apply the principles of leadership and governance in our country.
In Nicaragua, a nice and beautiful country that has now become a transit point to the United States or Canada, I enjoyed my brief stay. My observation in Nicaragua is that the type of democracy President Ortega is running is no different from Rwanda, except that Nicaragua has serious human rights issues of concern to all.
In 2016, President Ortega nominated his wife as vice president of the Republic, and the party consented, eventually winning the elections. What a wonderful country.
Let’s face the facts—everyone wants to share happy moments with loved ones. I would not encourage this anywhere, although I see no harm if the wife or family member is qualified.
My point is that “whatever system of governance Rwanda and Nicaragua are administering in their countries, they are proportionally trying to deliver for their people, and most of all, they have brought about peace and stability in their countries.”
I am in no way advancing any theory or argument for Ghana to follow suit, but I am seriously advocating for us to “choose peace and stability in Ghana at the expense of a democracy that ruins our peace.”
Any good leader can deliver for his people without democracy.
The late Colonel Gaddafi—may his soul rest in peace—delivered to his people beyond doubt, and presently, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad Bin Salman, whom I admire so much, is delivering to his people beyond doubt. In the two regimes above (Libya and Saudi Arabia), no single principle or element of democracy is fully respected.
As I write this article, about 600 people have been reported killed by terrorists in our neighbouring country, Burkina Faso. Our families in Burkina, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Nigeria tell us of the fear and instability they feel anytime they hear the sound of fireworks or anything that resembles gunfire.
It is for this reason that I am urging all peace-loving Ghanaians and everyone living in Ghana to:
- Choose peace over the type of democracy that allows us to destroy the very peaceful ambience, stability, religious and traditional tolerance, and coexistence that we have built and maintained for decades.
- Try, in our own communities beginning at home, to establish a system where justice is cherished and respected above all.
- Help, encourage, and collaborate with law enforcement officers to be professional in their duties, impartial, and uphold the constitution of the Republic without fear or favour.
- Adopt as a way of life, and instil in the minds and lifestyles of children, the principles of fairness, kindness, love, unity, peaceful coexistence, tolerance, compassion, and care for one another.
In my religious tradition, Islam encourages us to take care of one another, love your neighbour as yourself, feed and clothe the poor and needy, accommodate the orphans, and love them. Be respectful to the elderly and merciful to the young. Give priority to mothers when it comes to obedience and kindness, above fathers.
By Alhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osman
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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