What is exactly going on in our dear nation, Ghana? Are we coming apart at the seams and heading towards disaster? I hope not but every other day, reports of shots fired and people injured fill the airwaves and our living rooms.
Political violence has become a daily occurrence, and from all indications, it is increasingly becoming part and parcel of our daily existence, and unfortunately part of the country’s DNA.
Lets be honest with ourselves at least for once. The bitter and hard truth is that we are becoming so desensitized to political violence so much so that when it erupts and disrupts our lives, we just push it out of our minds and go about our business with no care in the world
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And making matters painfully worse is the fact that our political leaders appear unwilling to exercise their authority or are just plain impotent when it comes to punishing the perpetrators of political violence.
Instead, our dimwitted politicians are more interested in protecting their vigilante groups at the expense of civilians and national security.
The Ayawaso chaos is still fresh in our minds and those who took the law into their hands by shooting at unarmed civilians are still on the loose; despite being identified as the culprits, they have not been arrested or brought in for questioning by the appropriate authorities.
A Commission of Inquiry set up by the ruling NPP to probe into the violence and suggest solutions so far has provided a window into how the violence unfolded and who planned and executed the mayhem and chaos.
Testimonies from government officials have been contradictory, misleading and eye opening all at once. The violence according to them was carefully orchestrated.
Despite the painful reminder of the Ayawaso disaster; the two political giants don’t seemed to have learnt from the terrible experience. Violence has once again reared its ugly head. This time the NDC is at the center of the storm.
A fortnight ago, it was the NPP which visited brutal violence on its primary political opponent, the NDC. Last week, it was the turn of the NDC to act stupid when gunmen purported to be members of the party’s vigilante group, the Hawks, opened fire during a meeting in Kumasi.
All of a sudden, these thugs have become so emboldened that they have no qualms about strafing their colleagues with lead bullets and snuffing out their lives in the process.
The violence that has been unleashed in the last couple of weeks emanating as it were from the two predominant political parties is indeed a sad commentary on how debased and violent our politics have become.
And sadly prospects for a better political environment tomorrow are dim because both parties are less inclined to do something about their vigilante groups.
Controversial politician Mr. Kennedy Agyapong stated without a trace of remorse that he won’t stop financing the NPP’s vigilante groups while, the National Vice Chairman of the NDC, Mr. Azorka, threatened that the party will also arm itself as we move toward the 2020 election. Talk about scary stuff. The future indeed looks bleak and Ghanaians are in for a very long ride.
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