Despite being debriefed, and thoroughly grilled by police about his threat to post “muscled” armed civilians at all polling stations in the northern region on Dec. 7, the regional chairman of the NPP appears not to have learnt his lesson.
He remains stubbornly unrepentant and openly defiant. He is adamant that he will carry out his threat to ride roughshod over our democratic system
You would think that after the lengthy tete a tete with the police and being granted bail, the chairman would have been chastened by the experience. Well, you thought wrong.
Because, at yet another political rally, the chairman was his combative self; he reiterated his intentions, loud and clear, and unbelievably went on to urge NPP supporters to literally take the law into their hands by physically confronting anyone who would dare stuff ballot boxes or do anything untoward on December 7.
The chairman’s defiance is breathtaking; he is by all indications, breaking the laws of the land, poking his finger in the eyes of security agencies and calling their bluff, “catch me if you can,” he seems to say. He has suddenly morphed into an untouchable. The law does not apply to him.
That the chairman has been emboldened to do as he pleases, that is, threaten the integrity of our democracy, stems largely from the paralysis that has gripped the leadership of his party.
The party’s presidential candidate should have been the first to strongly condemn Mr. Naabu’s utterances, and tell him in uncertain terms to cut the crap; but it is crystal clear that he does not want to incur the wrath of the notoriously talkative chairman. In fact, no one in the party’s higher ups wants to deal with his shenanigans. So, he is let loose to spew venom.
At the end of it all, the chairman’s behavior, sadly, exposes the inherent weakness and widespread ineffectiveness of our state institutions. In societies where the rule of law is strictly adhered to, the chairman would have been deemed to have broken the law with his incendiary statements and therefore made to face its full rigors….he would, indeed have been cooling his heels in a cell. But in Ghana, you can incite a crowd, and all you get is a slap on the wrist. Sad, very sad.
