Religion, tribalism and politics

Both inter and intra partisanship in Ghana are bedeviled with tribalism and region. For these reasons, past governments have worked seriously to mitigate this cancer from the body politics of this our beloved country; “in the early days of Ghana’s independence, the problem of tribalism plagued the body politics of the nation — with the likes of the separatist National Liberation Movement, Northern People’s Party, Ga Shifimo Kpee, Anlo Youth Organization, Muslim Association Party, etc. — coming to the fore.

As a result, the government outlawed these parties when it enacted the Avoidance of Discrimination Act, 1957, to ban political parties formation on tribal, religious or regional basis. Now, the Ghanaian Constitution enjoins every political party to have a national character, and membership shall not be based on ethnic, religious or other sectional divisions”. Michael Sumaila Nlasia.

It seems like we are farther away from achieving success in the fight against tribalism and religion into our body politics. Recent developments are leaving nothing to be proud of as being a Ghanaian when it comes to these.

I reference you to these statements, and I quote, “The Christian Community with its extreme majority, is an important political constituency for every political party to court. It is not for nothing that Nana Addo chose “The Battle is the Lord’s” campaign slogan. Obviously, he understood the indispensability of that community......Between Alan and Bawumia, one can help the party to increase its votes from the 71.2% Christian Community. The other would cause our votes in that all-important majority community to increase our votes drastically.” E. G Buckman in a publication on 3rd of November 2021 by the GhanaWeb entitled: NPP 2014: The significant difference between Alan and Bawumia the delegates must consider

Again he added “Besides, one can help the party to increase its votes in the party’s strongholds, particularly in the 47.4% dominant Akan community. Per the Christian-Akan-skewed nature of our political market, Alan is overly marketable than Bawumia”.

What is important yet unfortunate in the projection of one candidate over the other, he immaturely brought in ethnicity and religion in the internal political party contest of the NPP, forgetting that such unforgiving words were not supposed to be said let alone to be in a written form for publication. If it was however said, it could have been by a slip of the tongue, which he would be forgiven. But he deliberately made those comments in telling delegates to vote based on ethnicity and religion in the impending flag-bearer ship contest of the NPP. Unfortunately, he didn’t consider the minority tribes and religions which have been contributing to the success of their party in the previous elections. Moreover, he has also forgotten that without these minority tribes and religions, there wouldn’t have been any way possible for the NPP or any political party to win an election in this country.

To be very sincere, honest and elaborate, both the minority and majority are mutually inclusive in winning an election for any individual or political party in an election.

Cognizant with this undisputed fact, Clement Sefa-Nyarko(July 28,2020) in publication of a paper wrote: in concert with other constitutional provisions, Ghana’s Article 55 of 1992 Constitution has curtailed extreme ethnic politics through the limit it places on ethnicity in party politics. Whilst outlawing ethnicity in politics, the constitution provides other depoliticised outlets for expressing diversity, especially through decentralisation and legitimisation of chieftaincy institutions. Despite these safeguarding provisions, the Asantes and Ewes have consistently taken entrenched political positions since 1992, and this article explicates some of the drivers using longitudinal election results. It draws on institutional design complexities in multi-ethnic societies in Africa to propose lessons and convey implications for Ghana’s Fourth Republic Constitution.

In 2016, a total of valid registered Ghanaian voters on the voter register was 15,712,499. Out of which, Greater Accra region had 3,063,986 valid registered voters. Highest voter registered population, according to the Electoral Commission of Ghana.

Those huge numbers didn’t represent only the Ga/Dangbe registered voters, but people from different tribes from different regions who have settled in the Greater Accra Region.

Therefore, the Ga/Dangbe tribes (indigenous people) could not have said because the voter population in their region was higher than other regions, it suggested that only Ga/Dangbe tribes constituted that huge numbers in the voters register then.

It would have been wronged and weird if any youth group or any person from the Greater Accra region had said that their tribes were the dominant one in Ghana because the region had the highest voter population.

But for any person to have said that a presidential aspirant must be chosen based on religion and tribe is ethnocentric, bigotry and divisive. This intemperate language should not be given any pinch of salt in the spheres of democracy.

Some Ghanaians have adopted an attitude akin to the sort of evil may occur passiveness of invading freeloaders to whom if the country prospers they enjoy it but if it fails and collapses they quickly opt out without any obligation, hence they have no inner instinctive well-wishing for Ghana. No matter where anybody comes from in Ghana, we are all Ghanaians with equal citizen’s rights, appreciable depending on what anybody can contribute positively but not destructively for personal ends. We must all decry anybody who depends on State for subsistence. Adreba Kwaku Abrefa Damoa & Peter Antwi.

The fact is that, there are some people when their preferred political party is in government or their preferred candidate in an internal election is elected to lead as a flag bearer, they'll do anything humanly possible to support its success. However, once their party is out of power or their preferred candidate didn’t go through, they'll in the contrary do anything humanly possible to push for the downfall of the political party. “Unlike the American, British, German Swedish, etc. mostly people of the Western developed world have positive ethos, truthfulness, unfeigned but realistic sincerity towards their country as people who crave for their national prosperity. Ghanaian attitude to national issues as true and loving nationals appear to be very questionable and confusing,edging on passive tribal and selfish instincts.” Adreba Kwaku Abrefa Damoa & Peter Antwi

Ghana belongs to all Ghanaians within our individual and collective rights, irrespective of our religion,tribe, political party etc. And before we get too comfortable with such divisive hostile labels as Ashantis, Fantis, Ewes, Gas, Dagombas, Northerners, and Southerners, let us all try to be Ghanaians first and see if our lives in this country won’t be made a lot easier through unity and co-operation, as opposed to rivalry and sinister antagonism.

As a country, what is required of us is to collectively do away with undermining certain groups of people because of their tribe, religion, and political affiliation. All tribes, religions and political parties must coexist peacefully in this country. We coexist and commingle even with diversity in tribe, religion and politics. That’s what make us Ghanaians.

Dishearteningly, the issue of tribalism cut cross Africa with its dire consequences affecting socio-economic development and democratic governance.

For this reason, it couldn’t have been said better, “Nothing in Nigeria's political history captures her problem of national integration more graphically than the conquered fortune of the word tribe in her vocabulary. Tribe has been accepted at one time as a friend, rejected as an enemy at another, and finally smuggled in through the back-door as an accomplice." Chinua Achebe (The Trouble with Nigeria).

Quite unfortunately, it cannot therefore be true that a political power passes through one tribe or any region or religion in Ghana in our democratic dispensation. It is falsified disingenuously purported to rather extol braggadocio by a person or group which has persistently claimed such prominence that, certain tribe or religion is a frontier in election outcomes.

As a country and as tribes with various religious institutions, let's be guided in our nature over this superiority complex tendency.

Again, as individuals and youth groups in this country, let us also try to channel our synergies in fostering development, not in tribalism, religious banter, extreme polity etc in fomenting troubles. Let us resist the temptation of finding ourselves between troubles and unnecessary divisive issues. Irrespective of where we stand on the political platform, we disagree to agree on national issues. That doesn't mean in the course we must disrespect each other. Moreover, our leaders on whose paths we follow must be circumspect in their utterances, too.

That is the kind of difference we can make to augment Ghana’s enviable position as a beacon of light which shines on African nations development in democracy.

Without qualms, I reiterate my position that, no tribe is superior or inferior in this country. Every citizen in a tribe and region has a fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution. And so, every citizen needs to impact positively in socio-political and economic development of Ghana. For, leadership doesn't matter where you come from. Leaders are chosen by God.

The u.s. constitution was imperfect like ours. It took a civil war to establish that the principles enumerated in its Bill of Rights extended to all Americans, and the struggle to live up to those principles continues today. But focusing on the Constitution’s flaws can overshadow what it did achieve. Its revolutionary ambition was to forge, out of a diverse population, a new national identity, uniting Americans under a banner of ideas. To a remarkable extent, it succeeded.

Ghanaians must also learn from the above.

According to Amy Chuajed Rubenfeld, the American Constitution managed to overcome these divisions. The way it dealt with religion is illustrative. Colonial America had not embraced tolerance; on the contrary, the dissenters had become persecutors. Virginia imprisoned Quakers. Massachusetts whipped Baptists. Government-established churches were common, and nonbelievers were denied basic civil and political rights. But in a radical act, the Constitution not only guaranteed religious freedom; it also declared that the United States would have no national church and no religious tests for national office. These foundational guarantees helped America avoid the religious wars that for centuries had torn apart the nations of Europe.

“Living in a society that was already diverse and pluralistic,” Gordon Wood wrote in The Radicalism of the American Revolution, the founding generation realized that the attachments uniting Americans “could not be the traditional ethnic, religious, and tribal loyalties of the Old World.” Instead, as Abraham Lincoln put it, reverence for the “Constitution and Laws” was to be America’s “political religion.” Americans were to be united through a new kind of patriotism—constitutional patriotism—based on ideals enshrined in their founding document.

In conclusion, a developed country has individuals and groups who have the right mindsets on religion, tribe and politics.