Diversity, Inclusivity, and tolerance has thickened the plot of Ghana’s political scene for quite a while.
As the hijacking of the democratic process by ‘tribal’ politics has been called out a few times, especially within the political arena with the New Patriotic Party being often tagged as an ‘Akan party’ which has little room for presidential ambitions for anyone not of their ‘caste’, the November 4 election to elect a new flagbearer has changed the narrative.
Change is required in every setting and the announcing of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia – a boy, born in the heartland of Tamale, with a hometown in Walewale, to be elected as a Presidential Candidate of Ghana’s largest political party, borrowing a word from his acceptance speech, “speaks to the character of the party”.
Interestingly, the thick clouds of doubts regarding the inclusive character of the NPP has dominated the discussion since Dr Bawumia took the bold decision on 16th June this year, to file his nomination to contest to be elected as the presidential candidate of the party.
Truth of the matter is that, despite the strong support and endorsement Dr Bawumia received from the Council of Elders of the NPP, top party executives and others, some analysts were still skeptical about his chances and others confidently dismissed the possibility of the NPP electing a candidate from the Northern part of the country.
Without mincing words, and in Dr Bawumia’s words, it has been proven that they clearly misconstrued the party’s “conservatism to mean tribalism or regionalism”.
Nonetheless, he was certain that they misunderstood the great party and its values because he reckoned the party’s “values of rewarding hard work and dedication would triumph”.
Invariably, the decision of the over 200,000 delegates of the NPP and the grassroots of the party has brought an entirely different perspective to the body of politics in Ghana, which when sustained can essentially influence the trajectory of political ambitions of people in the country – devoid of any tribal inclinations.
Rather shockingly, in the Ashanti Region, which is touted as the “citadel of NPP politics”, there were some few surprises which showed phenomenal support for Dr Bawumia securing some 65.6% in the region.
Moving beyond the tribal proclivities of politics
The challenge to democracy mainly in Africa is not so much as the prevalence of ethnic diversity, but the use of identity politics to promote narrow tribal interests.
Leaders are often known to exploit tribal loyalty to advance personal gain, parochial interests and cronyism. Nonetheless, tribes are not built on democratic ideas but rather on a community based competitive level, and not a national one where there are people from different creed and tribes.
Due to the almost narrowminded dictates of tribalism in politics, they are inimical to democratic advancement and are occupying a vacuum created by lack of strong democratic institutions.
Tribal interests have played a major role in armed conflict and civil unrest across the continent, and it is no playing ground for a peaceful nation as Ghana.
Critically, the NPP has proven to be a more accepting entity in its administration, rewarding people based on merits rather than on tribal lines.
Although the party isn’t nearly quite there yet, it has taken the first step to actually resolving a deeply ingrained aspect which could be potentially detrimental to its survival.
The way forward for political diversity in Ghana’s democracy lies in resolute efforts to build modern political parties grounded on development ideas and not tribal bonds.
Such political parties must base their competition for power on development platforms and pivotal party platforms will need to be supported by the search for ideas and implementation of same from visionary minds and not the appeal to tribal coalitions.
Beyond the tribal tags of the NPP, other political parties must necessarily create genuine development platforms that will launch initiatives that reflect popular needs. Ghana as it stands now is need of a robust direction that gravitates towards progress and growth from the economic lurch it currently finds itself in and playing politics especially on tribal lines just wouldn’t cut it anymore.
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