Ghana risk becoming a failed state

GHANA risks becoming a failed state, if it does not evolve strategies to deal with the increasing threat of vigilante groups formed by political parties to threaten and beat up opponents, the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHAR), Mr Justice Emile Francis Short, has cautioned.
He noted that the greatest threat to the country’s democracy was the dangerous phenomenon that reared its ugly head in recent by-elections in Akwatia, Chereponi and lately in Atiwa, where with even more than 1,200 security personnel, violence erupted resulting in injuries to several people.
Mr Short, who served as a judge with the International Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, made the call yesterday in a paper titled: “Is Our Democracy Under A Threat?” to mark this year’s “Democracy Day” in Accra. It was organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
He noted that more alarming was the report from Atiwa that vigilante groups mounted roadblocks and were checking the identity of people entering the constituency and described it as a dangerous development akin to the situation that transpired in Rwanda in 1994.
According to Mr Short, during the Rwanda genocide Hutu militants, called the Interhamwe, mounted roadblocks at various locations, checking the identity cards of all passers-by with a view to eliminating all Tutsis.
He described as disturbing the fact that till date none of the perpetrators of the violence or the persons who mounted the roadblocks at Atiwa had been arrested and prosecuted and asked if the rule of law no longer applied to political events.
Mr Short said since the inception of the Fourth Republic, Ghana had made great strides to the admiration of the international community, but issues such as bad human rights record, widespread corruption and the perception that members of political parties in power must be the only persons to benefit from state resources to the detriment of other citizens were part of the threat to democracy.
He also advised rampaging youth who were seizing offices and attempting to assault public officers that whatever their grievances, they should use the established channels of communication to seek redress and not take the law into their own hands.
The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, who spoke on the topic: “Is the Media Undermining Ghana’s Democracy?”, mentioned some of the concerns about the media in the country as sensationalism, plain lies, vulgar language, plagiarism, unprofessionalism, irresponsibility and a myriad of unethical and unprofessional practices.
He called for a thorough examination of the relationship between political ownership of media houses and ethical misconduct, because this issue was tied to a bigger problem of ownership and media performance.
He explained that there were several newspapers that were being sponsored or supported by politicians or others with political interests and specific political agenda, adding that such media houses were prepared to publish and be dammed, fully aware of the protection of media freedom under the constitution.
Mr Blay-Amihere said such media practitioners cared less about the limitations imposed by civil libel laws and some laws on the statutes such as the law of sedition.
He said another dangerous phenomenon was the role of “serial callers”, whose stock in trade was hate speech and insults and wondered who had been sponsoring such serial callers and determining the talking points, line of arguments and language that some social commentators use during radio discussions.
Mr Blay-Amihere said most of the heat and tension generated on the airwaves did not come from journalists but from serial callers and party spokespersons who regarded their appearances at FM stations as extension of their political propaganda and campaigning for future elections.
He also called for a critical look at the training of journalists, especially with mushrooming of several unaccredited journalism schools in Ghana, which has not helped the situation.