Research Fellow at the Kumasi Technical University’s Centre for Social Science Research, Dr. Smart Asomaning Sarpong, has blamed the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) for what he describes as the growing culture of insults directed at political leaders, the presidency and traditional authorities.
According to Dr. Sarpong, the NDC allegedly contributed to the problem by supporting social media activist Kelvin Taylor, whom he accused of using his platforms to insult leaders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Speaking in an interview with Oheneba Nana Asiedu on the Wontumi Morning Show, Dr. Sarpong said if President John Dramani Mahama genuinely wants to end political insults in the country, he should call Kelvin Taylor to order.
“The NDC administration is the cause of all these social media insults on our leaders in the country. They sponsored the social media activist Kelvin Taylor to insult NPP leaders. If the NDC hadn’t sponsored Kelvin Taylor, all these insults on our leaders wouldn’t have happened.”
He further argued that the alleged conduct of pro-NDC social media activists had encouraged a cycle in which supporters of opposing political parties retaliate with similar attacks.
Dr. Sarpong questioned how Ghanaian politics had deteriorated to a point where political opponents allegedly resort to insults and social media attacks rather than engaging in constructive debate.
“When did Ghanaian politics end up like this, A country many other countries cherish, now we rain insults on our opponents. We give money to our social media activists to insult our opponents. This is not politics, and we need to end it altogether,” he said.
He further compared the current political environment to previous administrations, arguing that the level of political insults witnessed today was not as prevalent during the presidencies of former leaders such as John Agyekum Kufuor, the late John Evans Atta Mills, and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Dr. Sarpong alleged that Kelvin Taylor had also made disparaging comments about chiefs and other prominent individuals but claimed that authorities failed to take action because, in his view, the activist was politically useful to the NDC.
He also referred to claims allegedly made by Kelvin Taylor that he contributed to the NDC’s return to power and would confront party members who disagreed with him.
Dr. Sarpong concluded by calling on the NDC government to take steps to curb political insults, arguing that doing so would encourage NPP-aligned social media activists, including one known as “Ghana Jollof,” to similarly desist from attacking political leaders and chiefs.
He maintained that ending the cycle would require both major political parties to take responsibility and discourage their supporters from using social media to attack political opponents and traditional
NDC Created The Culture Of Political Insults In Ghana – Dr. Sarpong
