Calm Before The Storm

At first the National Democratic Congress (NDC), strategists/propagandists opted for a morality-hinged campaign for the December polls, laced of course, with a concentration of vitriolic and mendacity-driven allegations. At least, this was the visage they presented to the media even though most Ghanaians took their promise of playing a decent political game with a pinch of salt, and such skeptics have not been proved wrong anyway. Then the death of the late President John Evans Atta Mills triggered a lull, as propagandists struggled to act like angels and assigned celestial duties to the former law teacher. Skeptics saw the tranquil ambience as the calm before the storm. As the tranquil moments, held in the name of mourning period, continued, some of them occasionally breached convention by subtly campaigning for votes and even deriding others for allegedly shedding crocodile tears. For a yet-to-be-determined reason, they shifted the goal posts away from the foregone, with the debut of President John Mahama, preferring what they said should be issued-based debates. The morality question became a forbidden matter, despised to the marrow like leprosy by the NDC. We do not know why morality should be abruptly confined to the backburner. With the elections just a few months away, the sharp-teethed hawks have regained their muscles, hurling stones all over the place full time. President Mahama is yet to show in concrete terms his abhorrence for insults, having so far failed to hold party hounds at bay, as many opportunities to at least scold the defaulters slip by. Apologising on their behalf when they do not show remorse themselves is such a useless gesture, a ruse if you like. His failure to exert authority on the moral defaulters in his party has reminded political watchers about his late boss� nature when he turned his countenance in the opposite direction when his hounds were in full flight. Is that part of the decisiveness he alludes to on his posters? Well, with the battle lines fully drawn, it seems there is no turning back, as the political terrain is set to witness fiery exchanges and the opening of a stinking can of worms. We wish things did not degenerate to this level. It would be one big session of abusive exchanges in which one side is heavily disadvantaged, given the volumes of items in its dossier. It is this fact which informs the importance of avoiding the throwing of stones. The nonsense in throwing stones from glass houses is about to be proven. Let those who have ears listen and eyes see. We have avoided a bellicose situation for a while now in deference to the pleas of important personalities in society, from the clergy to statesmen. Eventually, the reality of silence not being an option is beginning to manifest and all would advise themselves and act accordingly.