It is always heartbreaking to read that at this stage of enormous human advancement in all fields of endeavor, some minority of our population will still be savaged enough to cause tremendous havoc to the lives and property of the innocent majority who are currently trying to find some cushion under the difficult socio-economic conditions facing our dear nation. The recent unpardonable political motivated violence in the Tamale municipality, which led to the lost of lives and property should be viewed as an avoidable waste that has no place in the country’s development agenda and must be condemned by all.
Truly, education is preferred to other means by the people of the North as a way to quality living standard, which is suppose to feed into the general conduct of the people including the use of dialogue as the only best alternative in settling disputes. If the unfortunate factional violent clashes are any thing to go by, it can only be concluded that a disservice has been done to the region and the nation as a whole. We cannot afford to loose any life anymore; we have already had enough of the brutalities.
Perpetrators and motivators of this embarrassing act of barbarism must realize that the good name of the North is being drag into the mud, more or less creating the impression that the region is now synonymous with confusion and violence. Nonetheless, a concerted effort must be made by the forward minded majority in the area, in conjunction with government to recreate the good image of this wonderful place, which was known for its quality human resources and the food basket of our beloved country.
The combatants must cease fire and understand that by their action, they are doing no good to anyone, not even themselves. We need the very lives and property being destroyed systematically for the development of the region, lacking most of socio-economic infrastructures, thereby pushing the people into a near state of destitution. Our actions must be responsible enough in order not to give the political operators the excuse to divert badly needed scarce resources destined for development of the region to security maintenance.
Established traditional structures in the region, as I know it, is rich enough to ensure healthy co-existence among the people who also happen to come from almost the same family. Knowing how things works in the Tamale, I am really at a lost as to what went wrong such that we can no longer appreciate and respect differing views among ourselves, which lasted for a very long time until recently. It is even more frightening regarding the place the violence was intense; slaughter/butcher house in Tamale is one of the most organized and controlled areas in the market. There used to be elders controlling their activities, making it almost unlikely for this kind of incident to take place for they all recognize how dangerous an outbreak of hostilities will be, looking at their tools for operation. The nation has a lot to do to recreate the lost sense of belonging and security within the general population if we actually want to progress as a country. There is no single doubt in my mind whatsoever that there is no workable and better alternative political system to democracy, but I guess many will agree with me that democracy in our part of the world is highly divisive, killing the necessary initiatives to mobilize the population for development and making our method of practicing it a suspect. We all as citizen owe it a sacred duty to help entrench multi-party democracy in the country, thereby identifying ourselves with the civilized world. For without unity, nothing can work effectively and efficiently.
Unfortunately, politicians have the habit of playing on the minds of the vulnerable for the purpose of winning power regardless the consequences of their action or inaction on the lives of the people they so desire to lead. We have a common interest, notwithstanding one’s political affiliation as voters to appreciate that political leaders are elected among us to serve our needs and wants and not their interest, therefore we have the right to accountability and they have the responsibility to be accountable. I can only hope that politicians will be informed by their moral instincts, not to take stands in the dispute that has the potential of inflaming emotions.
As a way to solving intolerance and other divisive tendencies among our polarized population, relevant institutions must be setup if already not in place to embark upon vigorous education campaign to create awareness among the general population about the need to accept and respect our differences in thoughts to give democracy the deserve meaning. If possible, political tolerance may be included in the school curricula as part of social studies; the future generations do not deserve to inherit this endemic in our society today.
No life is more valuable than the other, government as our rallying point has an unquestionable responsibility to provide security to all citizenry without any discrimination. Strong security measures must be put in place to ensure that government becomes proactive and not reactive in dealing with crime and violence, for the best strategy of crisis management is prevention. Justice as a reward to genuine grieves must be dispensed in a fair manner, beyond any reasonable doubt. Justice, they say, must not only be done, but must be seen to be done.
Thank you.
European University of Lefke
North-Cyprus.
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