Tuesday 15 September 2009

Tribalism is a danger to Ghana’s development…

As a kid, I witnessed many political pundits’ debate passionately about NPP and NDC on television. These debates were not simply about which party is best to lead Ghana but also which tribe is the best to lead the nation. Unsurprisingly, it is most likely that an Ashanti man would support NPP and non-Ashanti would support NDC all with great passion. Funny enough even in my old age I still see these debates between ordinary Ghanaians and more so than never, tribe determines which party one will affiliate. I am yet to find a Ghanaian who has not witnessed a political debate being argued without it having tribalism as the sole foundation. The latest hard fought 2008 election is evidence of Ghana’s tribal political democracy. The question is how one can reconcile tribe, politic and democracy to make a better nation for all.

My assessment on all of these tribal democracy and political debates is that each side unconsciously, seems to admit that both NDC and NPP parties have so far failed Ghana. Hence, I waste no time of mine to argue about who has failed Ghana the most and as far as I am concern failure can not be weighed. However, it should be treated as what it is thus, a failure and such it must be frowned upon by patriotic people who in their reasonable minds should seek to argue about getting the best out of their leaders regardless of which party is in power. Therefore, I urge Ghanaians not to be blinded by the fact that any particular leader is from their tribe therefore avoid to criticising them and holding them accountable for the lack of patriotism towards mother Ghana. For it is best to criticise things valuable and important to all than to be silent for the detriment of all Ghanaians. Let not conscious ignorance and unfounded hatred bring out the worst in you to the extent that your brain functions with baseless and unfruitful dangerous arguments. My careful conclusion is that Ghana can go toward a failed state due to tribal biased and ignorance for one can not look at a person’s tribe to assess him or her on their leadership skills.

Let me be clear, I am not by any means suggesting that Ghanaians have always voted on tribal connections nonetheless there is only one evidential exception thus the late Osagyefor Kwame Nkrumah who was voted with overwhelming support by Ghanaians. But the notion I bring forward is that, within these hostile tribal environment that Ghanaians have created means it will be almost impossible for an articulate and wise leader from either one of these tribal political parties to win an election with a huge support from all the various tribal groups in Ghana as a whole. So, to my fellow Ghanaians please do not act with tribal conscious stupidity and hold your politicians accountable only when they are from the ‘other side’. The harsh reality is that whether a leader is Ewe, Fante, Ashanti or Hausa, they are all corrupt and their lack of care for Ghanaians is detrimental to all. Notwithstanding, the awful reality which is that when these elite politicians regardless their party or tribal affiliation are busy stacking up money in Swiss banks, the welfare of any particular tribe does not concern them but rather they have themselves and their immediate family interest in mind.

3 comments:

  1. Tribalism is the cause of many wars and divisions in Africa, but we should never forget that we all belong to the tribe of Africa first and everything else follows...

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  2. Well done Keep it up I hope you will continue to excel. The sky is the limit.
    Martin Dad

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  3. It's a shame that people still vote based on tribalism, rather than policies.Having said that, if you look at the results of the last general elections in Ghana, you're notice that certain areas that historically voted based on tribal affiliations have started to change. The results were more closely contested than before.

    I thinks it all comes down to educating the general population to vote based on policies and what Ghana, as a nation need to progress rather than where the Leader comes from.

    Felix M

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