“Ashantis Are Ungrateful; they will not appreciate it even if I tar their roads with gold”- John Dramani Mahama – 2014.
“The Flagstaff House is not safe because it is located near a Muslim Community”- Sam Pee Yalley – 2011.
“Vote for me because I am one of you, a Northerner. If NPP wants to win votes here then they should make a Northerner their presidential candidate,” John Dramani Mahama – 2012.
“Sir John is a kookooase kuraseni because he stayed in Kumasi. When he comes from Kumasi he should take a different touch or else he would be lost” - Kobby Acheampong – 2010.
“No individual with an Akan descent will be allowed to register here. Odododiodoo is for Gas only. Go to your hometown if you are an Akan” - Nii Lantey Vanderpuye – 2012.
“A Muslim can never be President of the Republic of Ghana” - Fiifi Kwetey – 2007.
We could not subdue the urge to recall the foregone when Mr. Osafo-Maafo’s remarks during a meeting were recorded and subjected to a mischievous doctoring to give it an ethnic slant.
Expectedly, the stuff became the item of choice of a radio station which has specialised in such voice tampering and playing projects. It is regrettable that as a people some of us prefer selectiveness in our treatment of very serious national issues.
The quotations preceding this commentary speak volumes about how some elements in the ruling party have ridden on the back of ethnocentric remarks to gain political mileage.
Ironically, those behind the fanning of ethnocentric remarks are too quick to doctor their opponents’ otherwise innocuous expressions with a view to scoring undeserved political points in this competitive game of politics.
These are unacceptable projects undertaken by persons who deliberately ignore the negative fallouts of these in a multi-ethnic society such as ours.
Those who seek to rule and who rule must be guided by the dangers of sowing seeds of discord hinged on ethnocentric remarks – real or engineered.
The preceding italicised quotations do not come close to the doctored stuff which has raked so much dust on the political space a few days ago.
Let us manage this country with the best of intentions by avoiding such mundane yet divisive projects.
What can be more divisive, explosive and even detrimental to the cohesiveness of a political landmass called Ghana than someone appealing to a section of the country to vote for him because he is one of them.
Shouldn’t a politician who denies members of an ethnic group the opportunity to be registered for the purpose of voting in a constituency be chastised or even blacklisted from holding political office?
What can be more divisive than making an outlandish assertion that Muslims cannot aspire to the highest office of the land?
Perhaps the most contemptuous of them all: “Flagstaff House is not safe because it is close to a Muslim community,” as spewed by Sam Pee Yalley in 2011, should tell Ghanaians about those who mean well for this country and those who do not.
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