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Commentary Page
We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about
Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject
submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions
expressed in articles we publish......MORE
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What an expensive joke
from General Mosquito?
By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor
Wednesday, February
13, 2016
Folks,
those who know the NDC's General Secretary (Johnson
Asiedu Nketiah, popularly known as "General Mosquito")
will not begrudge him for cracking jokes of all kinds to
enliven the political discourse on Ghana's challenges.
In
fact, he is one person who has a huge capacity for
taking on political opponents and cutting them to size,
even if he has himself been caught up in narrow
circumstances and floored. Probably, his nom de guerre
("General Mosquito") can be traced to that point.
I remember very well how he
emerged bruised from a failed street demonstration by an
NDC group that was protesting against certain actions by
the Kufuor administration in the early 2000's. The news
report qualified him as the "skeletal Asiedu Nketiah";
but the fact is that he stings with his mouth.
Here
he is again, cracking an expensive joke that has turned
my crank:
"If
the people of Agogo are clamouring for Fulanis to be
sacked from Ghana, then they might as well be suggesting
the sacking of Mrs Samira Bawumia, General Secretary of
the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr
Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said.
He
told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5fm’s breakfast show
Ghana Yenson on Wednesday April 13 that the wife of Dr
Mahamudu Bawumia, three-time running mate to the
flagbearer of Ghana’s biggest opposition party, is also
of Fulani extraction, and, thus, those calling for
Fulanis and their cattle to be booted out of the country
may be doing Mrs Bawumia a disservice" (See
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/
NewsArchive/Sacking-Fulanis-would-mean-sacking-Bawumia-s-wife-Mosquito-430543).
You
may choose to laugh or cringe at this expensive joke. I
will see it as it is and laugh it off as a kind of comic
relief even if it indicates a lot for me to unpack,
which I am about to do.
General Mosquito has taken a huge swipe at Dr. Bawumia's
wife for a reason best known to him. She may not be the
only identifiable Fulani to be put on the spot. So, why
settle on her as such? Probably, General Mosquito has
chosen her for a special vengeance for her audacity in
tongue-lashing President Mahama. She recently made
public utterances that I didn't like because she wasn't
the kind of character to take on President Mahama as she
did.
But
for being married to a running mate, what locus would
she have to behave the way she did? In reality, she is
nobody. But she also joined the NPP's bandwagon to
disrespect President Mahama. Stepping on toes this way
exposed her underbelly, which General Mosquito is
attacking now. What follows next?
Beyond
the personality of Mrs Samira Bawumia is the real issue,
though. General Mosquito may be pardoned for weaving
this joke around her; but he won't be set free if the
reality of the Fulani menace is considered.
First,
no one is asking the government to bundle all Fulanis in
Ghana for deportation. Where will they be deported to,
anyway?
Again,
no one is pinpointing Fulanis as the perpetrators of
heinous crimes in Ghana for which they must be rounded
up and "dismissed" (I hope you know what I mean here).
The
focus is on the indiscriminate roving of the Fulanis all
over the country and the massive destruction of property
by their cattle, which poses a huge threat to limb and
property. What is happening in Agogo is on people's lips
because it is the reality to be tackled, not swept away
through such expensive jokes.
There
are many ways to tackle the problem, not because the
Fulanis are targets to be persecuted but because their
unrestrained nomadic activities are dangerous to many
communities in the country. Indeed, they have been
reported to have shot dead some of those protesting
against or resisting their activities. The situation is
dire.
The
government's approach to the Fulani menace is
disturbing. Nothing concrete has come from it to assuage
doubts, fears, and whatever else is making it difficult
for the citizens to see the Fulani nomads as "friends"
to live with.
The
use of raw force against the Fulani herdsmen hasn't
solved any problem. Neither have the local authorities
(especially the local security apparatus and traditional
rulers/politicians) been able to stem the tide. The
situation has assumed alarming dimensions and is likely
to worsen as long as it drags on.
The
onus is on the government to stamp its authority on the
crisis and resolve it. In one of my opinion pieces, I
strongly recommended that drastic action be taken to
limit the movement of these Fulani herdsmen so they can
be prevented from leading their animals to destroy the
farms of hardworking Ghanaians. That measure should
curtail the disaster, which is likely to deepen the
bad-blood relationship between the Fulanis and residents
in areas that they are freely operating in.
Is it
not possible, in the long run, to ensure that kraals are
built to contain these Fulanis and their cattle? Then,
those who can grow hay and sell to support cattle
breeding should be encouraged to do so. They will earn
some income while helping curb the rampaging activities
of the Fulanis and their cattle.
There
may be many other ways to handle the crisis. As tension
builds up all over the place, if care is not taken, this
Fulani menace will degenerate into a national crisis
with unmentionable consequences.
I urge
President Mahama and his team to consider this Fulani
menace as much as they would do any iota of terrorist
dimension. Who knows who will take advantage of this
menace to foment trouble in the country?
It is
not as if we don't know that Fulanis have been in Ghana
since time-out-of-mind and that some of them have well
integrated into the Ghanaian society and produced
children who qualify as Ghanaians. In that sense, then,
some Ghanaians are Fulanis, even if we cringe to accept
that fact. They are as Ghanaian as any natural-born
Ghanaian is. So, where will they go if forced out?
The
Fulanis in Ghana are the products of our proverbial
Ghanaian hospitality. Those whose nomadic activities are
endangering limb and property may be identifiable as
"outsiders" and isolated for special attention; but the
long and short of it all is that solving the crisis
should be done through concerted efforts. That is where
I find the government wanting. Something drastic has to
be done and done immediately to control the situation.
For
now, we may want to see General Mosquito's joke as a
piece of comic relief; but its ramifications speak
volumes.
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