President Nana Akufo-Addo is in a good position to end the cycle of vindictive politics in Ghana, a founder-member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe has said.
According to him, political polarisation “is a bane to development and bodes no good for the general well-being and progress of the country.”
The former envoy to Serbia and Montenegro said this while commenting on agitations against some appointed MMDCEs under the Akufo-Addo-led administration.
Some of the appointments have resulted in violence, as well as the rejection of nominees.
But in Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe’s view, “President Akufo-Addo can fight this canker and leave a strong legacy.”
“Since the birth of modern Ghana, political polarisation often coupled with ethnic polarisation has been a canker,” he told the Daily Graphic, adding that “the antagonism we saw between the Nkrumaists and Danquah-Busia-Domboists at the birth of our political system has evolved into antagonisms within political parties.”
He observed that “even lives have been lost under traumatic circumstances.”
According to Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, “In the past, it was Action Troopers against Action Groupers. Today it is often between rival party militias or party militias against party nominees. Resolving these problems consume precious time that could be channeled to national development.”
He noted that “military adventurists have often used the excuse of political polarisation to destabilise democratically elected governments but that was often a smokescreen to avoid wider accountability.”
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe recounted that Nana Akufo-Addo successfully played a leadership role in multi-partisan civil society movements, including the Movement for Freedom and Justice in the 70s and the Alliance for Change in the 90s, of which he was a part and, therefore, is better placed to stop politics of factionalism.
“Everything is seen through a partisan lens; even national development. We need to be more accommodating and less parochial if we are to compete against the Malaysias and Indonesians,” he noted.
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