The tragedy of our times is that people are quick to engage in debates at face value not caring about the facts.
1. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong strongly insists that because the NDC has John Mahama who is a northerner; APC’s Hasan Ayariga is a northerner and so if NPP elects Dr Bawumia who is also a northerner, the face of Ghana’s politics would be only northerners.
Accordingly, he argues, the NPP should choose an Akan. Ken infers that the party should not choose a northerner as the party’s presidential candidate. That statement by Ohene Agyapong does not qualify for tribal or regional politics!!. How true the adage, that if you point a finger to accuse a person of wrong doing, four fingers do point at your own chest.
2. The processes to choose a Presidential candidate for the NPP is part of an internal organisation of a political party which, the 1992 Constitution provides, “must conform to democratic principles” (Art 55(5)). The same Article 55 in clause 9 provides, “The members of the national executive committee of a political party shall be chosen from all the regions of Ghana”.
This means that the parties shall have to be intentional and deliberate to ensure that all regions are represented at the level of the National Executive Committee. Is that “regional or tribal politics” that the Constitution is advocating?
3. Again, Article 35(6)(b) obligates the state “to take appropriate measures to achieve reasonable regional and gender balance in the recruitment and appointment to public offices”. The number one public office in the country is the Office of the President and the Constitution requires of the State to take measures to prohibit discrimination, and ensure equity. Can a person who speaks to this be cited for engaging in “tribal and regional politics”?
4. In 1998, the then NPP Minority Caucus introduced a Motion in Parliament which, on account of the imperatives of Article 35(5) and Article 35 (6)(b), demanded to know the ethnic, regional and gender composition of the Armed Forces and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, in particular.
The Motion was moved by Hon Agyare Koi-Larbi on behalf of the NPP and Minority Caucus then. We stood for equity in recruitment into public offices at the time. We still stand by that and any advocacy for that, as obligated by the Constitution, cannot be equated to “tribal and regional politics”.
5. Today, in Parliament there is an Affirmative Action Bill that has been introduced. It seeks to ensure “positive discrimination” in the recruitment of women, youth and other underprivileged persons to public offices, the prescribed minimum being 30% within a defined period and working towards 50% within a stipulated period.
Parliament shall soon attend to this very important bill which should be a game changer for women and other vulnerable or under-represented groups including the youth. The bill seeks equitable representation for women and the youth. Is that undemocratic? Would members who would support it be accused of hyper-gender politics?
6. There is no democratic structure anywhere the operations of which are left unfettered. In the established democracies the practice of it is guided and guarded. That is a fact of life which practitioners have to contend with. These are the matters that Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has been addressing and the advocacy is predicated on the Constitution. Those who have eyes must see; those who have ears must listen.
7. Dr Bawumiah, given where the economy is, is the one Presidential hopeful with the necessary knowledge, competence, experience, focus, temperament, character and charisma to pull the nation through. That, he is a northerner is a huge bonus for the NPP which we must tap. That is the position of Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader and I cannot agree more with him.
Source: Kofi Nsiah Dwomoh/ Bono East Communicator
