Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Emmanuel Habuka Bombande has cautioned that the level of hopelessness currently in Ghana is reminiscent of the mood that characterized the moments leading to the uprisings championed by former President Jerry John Rawlings in his military days.
Speaking to the media after signing the book of condolence opened for Ex-President Rawlings by the state, Mr Bombande said the then military leader seized power at a time when the nation was lost in hopelessness and through his traits of courage, strength and determination was able to restore hope in the nation.
"Rawlings stood with courage and strength, determination that it is not because it is impossible. But because we have not organised ourselves enough and with our bootstraps, students went to carry cocoa. I remember I had to wait for I would say two years before entering the University because those ahead of us who were evacuating cocoa meant that the universities were closed. And then we started to come back, regain our hope and to rebuild what we thought could be possible" he told the media.
He was however quick to state that in the process of regaining the lost hope, there were mistakes made which were not necessarily signed off or approved by former President Rawlings.
Mr Bombande, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to use the passing of Ex-President Rawlings as a moment of introspection that will lead to the healing of the nation.
"In this process, all of us as human beings and all of us as Ghanaians must recognize that in holding each others’ hands during those very difficult moments, mistakes were made. Not necessarily because there was a centrality of the coordination of what must happen that must be right. There were people who took it upon themselves to do certain things that obviously would not be necessarily be approved or signed off by Ex-President Rawlings. And so that moment of difficulty also came with a cost," he said.
According to him, Ghana is currently sinking into a path of politicisation marked with discrimination, selectivity and exclusion and that is reminiscent of the moments of the hopelessness seen before the Rawlings regime.
"We cannot continue on this path of it is us versus them. And everything now has sunk to a low point of politics in which the hopelessness is coming back. Because you are a young woman, you are a young man your aspirations are bleak. Because if you don't have a party card and you cannot prove your worth in a party, you are not assured of the passion and the job that you want to engage in. And so there is discrimination, there is exclusion, there is selectivity," he stated.
He emphasized that the late President Rawlings even though had his own political party, was able to reach out to all persons on the political divide, something he believes should be emulated to salvage the current situation being experienced in the country.
