Can We Handle The Truth? Part II

(The difference between a politician and a statesman is: A politician thinks of the next election while the statesman thinks of the next generation)- James F. Clarke

(The statesman shears the sheep; the politician skins them)- Austin O?Malley

(In fact, Rawlings? appearance at the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) has sent shivers down the spine of the ruling government because they did not anticipate the man they were aiming to destroy to pull such a huge crowd in an election year like this)- Yaw Boateng Gyan, Western Regional Organizer, NDC.

PREAMBLE

I want to begin this article by making the following disclosures about myself. I have a bias. It is a bias in favour of the rule of law. It is a bias for good governance. It is a bias for probity, accountability, integrity and transparency in governance and in both public and private life. Above all I have a bias for posterity and actions that accelerate the progress of generations yet unborn.

Issues of tomorrow?s leaders are very close to my heart and I consider myself a drum major for that cause.

To bring home to readers my preoccupation with and proclivity for matters concerning the future generation, I wish to paraphrase the words of former President Bill Clinton of the United States.

?You believe in posterity when you stare into the bright twinkling eyes of a baby. In those twinkling eyes of the baby are dreams about a future they eagerly await.?

THE BACKDROP

Almost two months ago I wrote the first part of this article in which I raised issues relating to truth. I focused on the truth politicians have parlayed to the electorate in their unbridled quest for what Dr. Kwame Nkrumah described as the ?political kingdom?, the truth about our turbulent past, the role various political parties and groupings have played in the polarization of our country and the role of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) in bringing healing and closure to long suffering Ghanaians.

A fortnight ago I wrote an article about the reported clash between the police and a group of NDC party loyalists who had been organized to provide some semblance of support for former President Jerry Rawlings at his NRC hearing and cautioned against the misuse of able bodied young men and women for selfish, parochial interests.

Today I want to address that issue because I sincerely believe it is wrong, I believe it is negative and also portends danger for the future of our young democracy and for the development of our dear nation Ghana.

I cannot even begin to imagine the danger inherent in the practice where for cheap political reasons we use hard earned money in a country as poor as Ghana just to organize people to demonstrate in support of a former President who is just attending a hearing before the NRC.

Talk about the man hours lost and its impact on the economy! Don?t we know that occurrences like these make our country unattractive for business and doesn?t it forcefully bring home the real truth behind our abysmal failure to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)?

No serious investor worth his salt would take a country like ours seriously when highly placed political figures can waltz into Nima and give people C10, 000 and a T-shirt and some booze to stage a presence at a public hearing which incidentally is analogous to a High Court. Does it tell us about the respect these people have for the justice and legal system in the country?

It sends my mind back to the dark days of the cold war where foreign elements mostly mercenaries were recruited to fight guerilla wars in Africa, Latin America, Asia and some parts of Europe. Known as dogs for war, this ruthless band of thugs and bandits infiltrated countries and caused mayhem. So brazen are their tactics that even today they place adverts in mainly military magazines identifying themselves as ?Soldiers for Hire.?

The scenario where able bodied young men and women are banished to the fringes of national development without any chance of economic empowerment while their abusers fork out top dollar to shop for schools abroad for their children ought to worry every right thinking Ghanaian.

Has anyone wondered where Charles Taylor recruited the people he used in the Liberian civil war?

During my days at the Ghanaian Chronicle I had an unforgettable encounter with one such young man who ably fits the above description and he is the inspiration for this article.

Massa WE NEED JOBS

Immediately after the curtains were drawn on what was reported as a relatively successful rally by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) a young man in his mid-twenties moved towards me as I was about to make my exit from the Kawukudi Park, a sprawling barren land mass in the Accra suburb of Nima. This was in 1999. President Jerry Rawlings was there, so was his vice and the party?s flag bearer, Dr. John Evans Atta Mills and all those who mattered in the NDC.

As to be expected and typical of political rallies of the party in power there was a huge and an excited crowd in attendance.

Unbeknownst to me this guy had been observing me as I took notes at the rally and rightly figured out I was a Reporter.

What he told me in a five minute monologue nearly drew me to tears because it told a lot about people and the real needs they have.

?Tell the boss (JJ) that we love him and we will even die for him but we need jobs. My brother we are suffering paa (sic). We would die for the party but they should also help us get jobs so that we can feed our families.?

The experience was very enlightening and humbling. It opened my eyes to the facts and the reality of the genuine problems facing the people but which are unfortunately lost in the din of the rhetoric and nice political stumping speeches politicians work themselves into a lather to deliver.

Issues of unemployment, underemployment, healthcare, medical insurance, high costs of living and falling living standards are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and gain to the detriment of the people.

This is no verisimilitude. You could characterize it as a reality check because that was how it impacted me- I learnt at first hand the real problems of real people in our world.

This is the real deal and I wish every politician and those who desire to seek public office one day would have the opportunity to experience it. I would never forget his words. He conveyed them so passionately that almost five years later I?ve not been able to expunge it from memory. These words were spoken in candour and in truth.

Contrast the above with the following words attributed to Mr. Yaw Boateng Gyan, the Western Regional Organiser of the NDC.

?In fact Rawlings? appearance at the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) has sent shivers down the spine of the ruling government because they did not anticipate the man they were aiming to destroy to pull such a huge crowd in an election year like this.?

I have nothing against this man. In deed he has every right under the sun to speak his mind on any issue he so chooses and I leave him to his conscience. Gyan?s statement beggars the question? Now that we know that former President Rawlings commands support from the masses what would he do with it? Would he use them for the right reasons or for parochial and even diabolical ones? That former President Rawlings has a personality that appeals to a segment of the population is something no sensible person would deny. The question that still remains to be answered is how the former President would act to address the problems these people encounter on a daily basis in their neck of the woods. Like the guy in the article what these young people need is a job to provide basic necessities of life for their families. Imagine how much C500m can do for the people of Nima who lack such basic things as places of convenience, affordable health care, good drinking water and cannot even have afford three square meals.

Well, that money (C500m) was used to clear from the ports four gleaming bullet proof cars for the security and comfort of former President Rawlings. This tells a lot about who is really looking out for these people. I leave the rest to readers to deduce.

Mr. Gyan?s statement is symptomatic of the obsequious, pusillanimous and lame duck character trait that is so pervasive among Ghanaian politicians. And that is regrettable.

Instead of stepping up to the plate and speaking their minds they rather make gods out of demagogues. Instead of being a part of the solution they rather compound the problem.

These sycophants have been present in every government since independence and they are still manifesting themselves in the blind and irresponsible allegiance of Gyan to former President Rawlings. The Kufuor Administration has not caught in the crosshairs of this epidemic too and it is festering like a rotten sore. We need solid leadership to rid this disease (that is what it is) from our body politick.

Arnold H. Glagow describes leadership as ?the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency?. My cry is to all those in leadership positions in this country, be it political, religious etc to take this matter seriously because the future of this dear nation of ours depends on it.

The violence that played out in the streets of Nima where most of these young people are recruited from in the aftermath of the May 9th 2001 stadium tragedy is still fresh in our minds and I hope the lessons learnt from that incident would inform the efforts to deal with this clear and present danger.