Political Valentine

LATELY it has become pretty difficult to distinguish between a Valentine fan and a Asante Kotoko supporter. The red colour is the veritable point of confusion.

Sometimes you are lucky to meet a Valentine celebrant who is also a Kotoko supporter. You can be sure that such a character will wear a red dress, red hat, red shoes and sport a red moustache. Certainly he is not a lunatic. The guy knows what he is about.

The problem with Valentine in Sikaman is that it has defied all manner of definitions. Even some people think it is a yam festival. So they procure palm oil to go with it. And why not? Isn’t palm oil red?

Others think it is a day of love, where love, properly but misguidedly defined, means sex. So they go from one drug store to another buying all sorts of condoms including Rough Rider and ‘Wo Ye Mecho’. Some go booking hotel rooms a day or two earlier. On February 14, those rooms will be turned into surgical units for the dissection of Valentine fools, those who mistake the occasion for fornication and adultery.

This year, the celebration of Valentine is taking a political turn. People say they will be demonstrating against something called Representation of People’s Amendment Bill (ROPAB). You can be sure that the demonstrators will be in pure red all over.

The funny thing about this bill is that it is the darling idea of one political party and snake venom for another. It all has to do with Ghanaians abroad, whether they are domiciled in Libya or Morocco or languishing in Iceland or Greenland.

If passed, this bill will enable them all to vote in general elections. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government wants it passed while the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Convention People’s Party (CPP) do not. They claim it could spark an inferno, a conflagration (many apologies to Arnold Quainoo).

These days, we are not hearing many Big English that are political in form and content. In the days of Jerry Rawlings, the English Language was much vibrant, spoke with revolutionary zeal, sometimes with military enthusiasm.

And when the famous historian and ex-presidential aspirant, Professor Adu Boahen, delivered his famous “Men on Horse Back” lecture, General Arnold Quainoo quickly delivered a rejoinder on the spot, promising an ‘inferno and conflagration’ if anybody wanted to change the status quo. He spoke in a voice of thunder, which some nearly mistook for an earthquake. Today, democracy has watered down the use of political bombast and militant grandiloquence to convey thought and intention.

Now ROPAB has taken centre stage and time and energy are expended on debating the pros and cons. The opposition parties, mainly NDC and CPP, think the law may cause confusion if it is implemented. NPP, on the other hand, think it is a romantic bill that will be even more romantic if passed and implemented. What is more Valentinic than making your brothers and sisters abroad voting alongside those at home to elect the country’s leadership, especially when the constitution endorses it?

Now, the NDC is saying over and over again that they do not object to the passage of the bill, but why pass a bill whose implementation could be problematic? They claim that disputes could arise in foreign lands over the authenticity of ballots, which could bring the outcome of elections into doubt.

Well, political jargons, theories and theorems have been invented to properly argue the knotty points, and people have already developed hypertension over this bill. Some have suggested a referendum; others have insinuated the use of lots (as in the Bible) to determine the issue.

In the midst of these, a new political party is alleged to have been formed. Very interesting developments lately. The ‘Daily Guide’ says it is Democratic Freedom Party (DFP).

Well, forming political parties is in the interest of democracy. Views in any democratic dispensation must necessarily be divergent to deepen the concept of democracy. It is exactly like in religion. The more churches split, the more Christianity is likely to spread further afield. So the split in churches must be welcomed rather than condemned, because no one church can save all mankind. The message of God must be propagated by binary fission and not by mere evangelistic diffusion.

So it is coming to pass that rumours of a third force are coming to some reality. But in all these, what amount of time and energy is expended in discussing on radio the basic needs of Ghanaians—food, clothing, and shelter? About only 10 per cent is spent on these. The rest is politics, politics, and politics. Is that the way forward?

This article was first published on
Saturday February 11, 2006

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