By Ken Kuranchie
Ghanaians have a reason to be careful, careful enough not to grant or give power to certain people, like Johnson Aseidu Nketiah and John Mahama, the latter who has been certified by Courts of Law to be a bribe taker.
In any other country where the people know what they are doing and are about, Mr. John Mahama would not be gunning to become President again. He would not be allowed, and by the mere instrumentality of public opinion and opprobrium, would not have had the nerve to put up his candidature.
Indeed, if he dared, his political party would have turned him down flat!
Yet, here we are.
Mr. Mahama is a certifiable bribe taker. At least, until he takes steps to confront Airbus SE to clear his name. He has been found by Airbus SE in a decision of the Queen’s Bench Division of the United Kingdom as being the individual towards whom their bribe was intended. This was contained in a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) which is a judgment of a court in the care of Serious Fraud Office v. Airbus SE. Mr. Mahama was similarly cited in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, by way of a Consent Agreement (CA) in the case of United States of America v. Airbus. In both cases. Airbus SE consented to paying bribes. And one of the recipients of the bribes was Mr. Mahama.
It can be said, without equivocation, that in the eyes of those courts, Airbus SE admitted to paying bribes to Mr. Mahama. Indeed, Mr. Mahama, at this point, should be busy casting off the slur, but here he is, seeking to become President again, and apathetic Ghanaians are looking on, sheepishly. We have to be careful as a people.
Yes, Ghanaians have to be careful, once again, about allowing arrogance near power. I am talking about arrogant individuals, particularly individuals who believe that they are too good for Ghanaians.
A classic example of such arrogant people, is Mr. Johnson Aseidu Nketiah of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of which Mr. Mahama is a flag bearer.
Throughout nations where democracy is practiced, and in fact intrinsic to our democracy, is the culture of debate, the exchange of ideas.
Indeed our 1992 Constitution recognizes and heavily suggests a culture of debate when it says at Article 55. (3);
“Subject to the provisions of this article, a political party is free to participate in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminate information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of a national character, and sponsor candidates for elections to any public office other than to a District Assemblies or lower local government units.”
To participate in ‘shaping the political will of the people’, to ‘disseminate information on political ideas, social and economic programmes’ of a national character, political parties would, first and foremost, propound their ideas. Secondly, and in all likelihood, these ideas would be at variance with the ideas and programmes of other political parties.
The other aspect of Article 55. (3), is the fact that political parties are required to sponsor candidates for elections. From Article 55. (3), political parties have a dual responsibility, to sponsor candidates and propagate ideas.
So that on virtually every issue, it is expected that these political parties would engage each other, exchange ideas, and debate, if necessary, to give Ghanaians the opportunity to listen to each idea and choose which is best.
Against this background, it is completely arrogant on the side of Johnson Asiedu Nketiah to describe a presidential debate as ‘worthless’. Such an attitude is jejune, archaic, retrogressive, unnationalistic. It is an attitude that should be condemned by all right-thinking Ghanaians and is also likely to detract from Ghana’s beautiful democracy.
Saying that the debate is ‘worthless’, and using that as an excuse not to participate, also demonstrates that Aseidu Nketiah and his flag bearer John Mahama are willing to endure the label of being tagged as cowards.
You see, describing and labeling a man a liar is serious thing to do. If you do that, you are holding him up to any and all fellow human beings that he is not to be trusted, that he is a person who does not keep his word, and is not somebody who can be depended on, even when he has made a pledge to do something.
And that is exactly what Mr. Aseidu nketiah did on the platform he was gifted by Joy FM. He said that Bawumia is a liar, and so there is no need to debate him.
Mr. Aseidu Nketiah does make a good case for why he and his party’s flag bearer Mr. John Mahama, who is a certified bribe taker, can conveniently be labelled as rank cowards.
Apart from labelling the proposed debate as ‘worthless’, Mr. Nketiah also described the NPP flag bearer as a liar. He said that because Bawumia is a liar, he has advised his flag bearer not to accept any challenge to debate.
But you see, the debate is not about Aseidu Nketiah. It is not about John Mahama. It is not even about Mahamudu Bawumia. It is about ‘shaping the political will of the people’, ‘disseminating information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of a national character, and ‘candidates for elections to public office’.
Ghana is about to spend tens of hundreds of millions of Ghana Cedis on an election to select a President. They have every right to see the people who want to be president on a common platform, to listen to them, gauge their ideas and make a determination as to who is best.
In any case, every reasonable man would tell you that when you have an opportunity to debate a ‘liar’, you should jump at the opportunity with both hands, to expose the ‘liar’. If you ran away from such an opportunity, you are just a coward.
What Mr. Aseidu Nketiah and the NDC is seeking to do, is rob Ghanaians off this opportunity. We cannot force them, but we should punish them for the failure.
We should also see them for what they are, arrogant and cowardly. They are people who would stand elsewhere, on top of mountains and label others as liars, but are too afraid to meet the people they malign on the same terms, stare them dead in the eye and accuse them to their face. Only cowards do that.
