Over the Easter weekend, the National House of Chiefs issued a statement calling on the Legislature to strive to put Ghana first in its duties, deliberations and lawmaking processes.
The call came against the backdrop of infighting among members of the opposition National Democratic Congress, largely because of what the party leadership and communications machine see as a betrayal on the part of the Minority in approving nominees who had been pencilled for various portfolios by the Executive.
The need on the part of Parliament and political parties to put the nation first had been earlier enunciated by civil society, academia as well as our religious communities led by the Christian Council, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the leadership of the Muslim communities.
Echoes
The call also came against the background of tension arising from the election of an opposition Speaker of Parliament who, since then, had striven to sound a clear, unambiguous message to his NDC constituencies that much as he is NDC, he has an obligation to God and country first.
Interestingly, while the Appointments Committee conscientiously did its national duty by approving the President’s nominees, the NDC leadership, which was evidently pissed off over what it deemed as an act of betrayal, has since been hit with internal struggles over issues of ‘loyalty,’ ‘political correctness’ and the party’s fortunes et al into 2024.
It appears that the scent of gunpowder that attended the battle for power in the last 2020 general elections was still pervasive in the air, though the Supreme Court had put the controversy of the last election petition to rest.
Of course, the Minority, also against the backdrop of the lingering political battle, initially flapped its wings, as one would expect, and probed issues to the hilt.
National interest
Thankfully, after all the ‘noise’, it eventually did what decent Ghanaians thought was in the supreme national interest.
Yet, that decision to put Ghana first had so ruffled feathers within the top echelons of the NDC political machine that the corridors of NDC power engage in open and veiled threats and attacks.
Moving forward in unity
But, in the opinion of the National House of Chiefs, this is time for Ghanaians, including all political interest groups, to bite the bullet and get on with the business of national conversation and development as Ghanaians instead as fractious political entities, without a vision and national goal.
As we plead with the leadership of the NDC as well as its communicators to accept the situation and put themselves together, we would also remind them of the tradition of consensus guiding the work of legislators generally.
As they themselves would admit, from 1996 till today, regardless of which party had been in power, good sense had blended with friendly fire to keep our Parliament alive as one of the best within the Commonwealth, even when we never had a hung Parliament.
From the days of Justice DF Annan through Peter Ala Adjetey, Sekyi-Hughes, to Doe Adjaho and Mike Oquaye up till date, our legislators have routinely and ritually related largely with a Ghana first conviction, without the respective political party leaderships or defeated and aspiring presidential hopeful and party gurus calling the shots from the fringes.
Needless fight
That the NDC performed creditably by winning astounding number of seats in the last elections cannot be denied. But demanding too much by that performance alone, without taking into account the gaping difference in presidential votes between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and former President John Dramani Mahama, only exposes the party as being politically naïve.
That is why we agree with the National House of Chiefs that the Minority must simply ‘capitulate’ and put Ghana first in their daily engagements.
Their duty to the Constitution must come first before party considerations because we are all Ghanaians first.
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