POLITICS OF INSULTS PROMOTE BAD GOVERNANCE (PAGE 13, AUG 11, 2011)

THE trading of insults among some political activist has been identified as a contributor to bad governance in the country.
According to the Executive Director of Youth Icons Ghana, Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa, politicians have reduced politics to who can overcome the other in trading of insults and have therefore relegated the contest of ideas and solutions required to transform the country.
He also mentioned that the system now rewards those who engage in the use of intemperate language because political parties tend to hail these people and even proceed to offer them public post because they contributed in demonising their opponents.
“Instead of rebuking people with insulting characters, political parties rather glorify them and, by so doing, they endorse the politics of insults,” he stated.
Mr Osei-Darkwa shared these thoughts with the Daily Graphic when he visited Tamale to support the campaign bid of Bice Osei Kufour, aka Obour, who is gunning for Presidency of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA).
He observed that people who engaged in politics of insults certainly lacked ideas, articulacy and the creativity to govern.
“If you know the topic being discussed, why degenerate into insults,” he asked rhetorically.
Mr Osei-Darkwa expressed worry about the involvement of young people in this negative practice.
“We are beginning to see young political activist engaged in the use of bad language against their opponents, simply because they have been emboldened by the old and experienced politicians,” he noted.
He said the tension being created by these insults would explode in the future and it is the youth who would suffer it.
He entreated the youth not to allow partisan politics to block their sound judgement and to stand up against the politics of insults.
Mr Osei-Darkwa also stressed the need for more organisations in civil society to join the crusade against the use of abusive and insulting language among politicians in the media.
He said sanity could only be instilled by civil society, because they could not be painted in the colours of any political party.
He said politicians could certainly not be the solution because the only way politicians could show their rejection of politics of insult was to publicly shun party faithful who use unprintable words on political opponents, but they have hesitated to do this.