In November 2010, the former immigration minister Phil Woolas and Labour MP was ejected from Parliament after two high court judges ruled that he lied about his Liberal Democrat opponent during the general election.
In my opinion, I believe this law will do well here in Ghana and bring in discipline into our politics.
During the 2008, the then opposition NDC were on roof tops professing all manner of lies against the ruling NPP which the gullible electorates took in. One of such lies was about some ships load of gold which some of the NPP ministers were smuggling out of the country but unfortunately sank in high seas. Another one was some people going round with fake bank statements showing to people as account balances of some ministers of the Kufuor government. It turned out that the fictitious balances in total exceeded amounts of monies in the central bank, all banks and money in circulation in the country.
With these two lies finding solid base in society coupled with the bad tag put on Nana Addothe NPP’s flag bearer at that timeby Rawlings and the NDC that he was both a hard drug addict and baron calling him Coke,the NPP had such a bad time fighting the accusations of corruption. That was 2008. It was during the vetting of ministers that those notable for peddling such lies had to either play the fifth or confess that there were all political talks.
In 2020 and again with NPP being in power those political talks have gain currency and this time very alarming lies have been raised against government and party.
One such lie was that peddled around and shook the very foundations of this country was about some £26 million taken to the UK by some government officials from Ghana in a private plane. This amount if even in £50 notes will be 5,200 packets of hundreds notes per packet.
Casual thinking will tell anyone that this cannot be possible. Firstly under strict financial laws in the UK this amount cannot be deposited in cash in any bank in UK, Europe or the Western world. Distribution can only be done by sharing the money among members of the gang and ask them to pay into bank accounts. Even here there could be problems. Anything in very high amounts like £10,000 and above will require some explanations to be attached. So even 2,600 volunteers will have to explain why they cannot be suspected of money laundering.It came out that a high profile politician in the person of NDC’s Hon Inunsah Fuseini, was the one who propagated such untruth.
Many other lies are been broadcasted about the place all in the name of making one party preferable over the others. One such blatant lie was that the NPP was behind the recent secessionists attacks just to have the right to destabilize the Volta region ahead of the 2020 General Elections. However statements made by a former NDC MP of Hohoe South and Voltarian, KosiKedem imply that the larger Volta region NDC believe in the activities of the secessionists and so it could be possible they knew about those attacks.
The question is, must we build this country on lies. Must politicians be allowed to blatantly lie about their opponents just to win elections? If lie is what can make them win elections then they are more interested in what they will personally gain than for the good of society.
In my opinion a law must be enacted to punish any one especially a politician who will lie against his or her opponent. Sanity must be brought into politics so that we have only honest and just people being handed the governance of this country.
It is also the responsibility of the electorate to thoroughly vet the candidates and make sure that they do not give the nod to liars and corrupt people.
Someday such lies could develop into something nasty and it is the country that will suffer. Politicians must always come above board and must conduct their lives in respectable manners full of humility, truthfulness and justice. If indeed all politicians claim it is for the good of Ghana that they are plying their trade, then they should come out fully sanctified.
Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s editorial stance
The post A Phil Woolas Law Needed In Ghana We Will Do With Some Decency Here appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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