Burning And Looting In Victory

Michael Addai
7 min readDec 18, 2024

--

By Michael Addai

Is it only me (perhaps) that feels like the NDC isn’t satisfied with their electoral victory? Even in the midst of their electoral victory, and winning everything there is to win, they’re still behaving like thugs, burning and looting like losers. What’s wrong with these people? I’d long thought this kind of thuggish behaviour was only reserved for people who were losing and thus venting their anger and frustration for the loss.

What was the point of NDC supporters burning, looting, and in some cases attacking government properties when the main presidential contender of the ruling NPP party had already conceded defeat with humility, maturity and dignity way before the official declaration of the results? Why are they taking over and/or halting district centres’ operations when there is no official handover yet? Why burn electoral collation centres? Why intimidating electoral officers? Why ransack the offices of MPs? Why the unprovoked attacks on Catholic Missionary priests? Why attack metro mass transit workshops? Why looting MMDAs offices and depots? Why seizing MMDAs distribution centres and assets?

As it was unabashedly expressed in my recent opinion piece before the election, the NDC hasn’t changed from its violent past. Violence is in the members’ DNA, and they can’t help themselves with anarchy. Whether they win or lose they’re still engaged in violence and looting either to celebrate their wins or vent their loss. Why embark on these anarchist behaviours if they aren’t losers forever in victory and in defeat? Is it, therefore, difficult to understand why this entity is behaving like losers even though they’ve just won the presidential and parliamentary elections? No, because with this entity, violence and looting (which are normally associated with losers — the losing party) are in their blood, thus it’s hard for them to rid themselves of this innate violence and disorderliness. Even in victory they behave like losers. That said, it’s of no particular consolation nor joy to be vindicated.

The usual disinformation in a broken system

In this age of social media, the NDC has been exposed. Their usual tactics of employing misinformation and propaganda to blame others for their mischievous, violent behaviour is not working this time. People of rational and sensible mind have wised up to the NDC ‘politricks’, and have seen through them. It’s no wonder that the NDC leadership is being forced to issue press statements/bulletins, have press conferences, asking their vigilantes to stand down from the polling stations and elsewhere to save face from this thuggish embarrassment. With these press bulletins, the leadership of the NDC has only asked their vigilantes to stand back, and stand by for the time being to be employed later. I thought the era of vigilantism was long gone but not so fast, it’s come back with NDC vengeance.

These NDC supporters know that the system is broken, and therefore, they will not face any consequences or accountability whatsoever. Otherwise, why should they suddenly see the need to appoint themselves as so-called ‘caretakers’ of government properties despite the presence of the security agencies? Where have these so-called ‘caretakers’ been for the past 8 years? Even if these NDC thugs are preventing criminality (as they claim) by some section of the outgoing NPP administration, is it right for them to take the law into their own hands? Isn’t it prudent for them to alert the police and allow the legal system to take action, especially when their incoming NDC administration will have all the levers of prosecution powers? They’re simply engaging in this cyclical pattern of thuggish behaviour because they know that their government is coming and therefore it’s their turn to continue with this colonial mindset of looting and sharing government resources as ‘Business As Usual’ with the usual impunity.

Worryingly, it seems that the impending change of government has created a power vacuum whereby the law enforcement agencies are afraid to deal decisively with these NDC thugs. Apparently, the leadership of the security agencies are treating these thugs as ‘untouchables’ and giving them the kid glove treatment in order to protect their jobs and/or positions with the incoming government. Why are we doing this to ourselves as a nation? Sadly, the same thing happened in 2008, 2016 where thuggish supporters were allowed to rampage government properties and public places without any fear of punishment or real consequences. It was just a hope that lessons had been learnt, and 2024 would be just different! Obviously not so, unfortunately.

This doesn’t portend well for a country that wants to be taken seriously and move forward. The NDC victory was supposed to be an era of renewal, redemption, new beginning and teaching moment for stubbornness in power but rather it seems to be going to be the same old, tired period of wastage, vindictiveness, justification, ‘equalization’, impunity, ‘loot and share’ etc. Clearly, we, indeed, need to change our mindset as a country from bottom to top.

Where are the ‘Morality Police’ merchants?

In all this, the so-called ‘morality police’ and ‘peace corps’ merchants who have arrogated to themselves as the moral conscience of the nation had not seen the need to, vociferously, denounce and condemn these thuggish behaviour as they should and are known for.

Perhaps now that the NDC has got total control of the executive and the legislative branches in the next parliament, these religious zealots and ‘moral arbiters’ who chose to vote on religious grounds are saving their breath to demand the immediate passage of the NDC anti-LGTBQ+ bill that they’ve been clamouring for all this while. Have these ‘moral arbiters’ conveniently forgotten that it was during John Mahama’s previous NDC governments and their legislators that defended, encouraged and entertained UNESCO’s attempts to impose the teaching of homosexuality in the schools curriculum until there was a backlash to stop this imposition?

Ironically, with no executive power and in opposition in parliament, the NDC parliamentarians championed the passage of this bill last year for political expediency. Now with the power of the executive and the NDC majority in parliament, wouldn’t it be the perfect time for the NDC and the ‘morality police’ advocates to have their wish in the next parliament? Let’s hope they don’t exhibit the usual pathetic hypocrisy.

At the time of economic hardship and environmental issues facing the country, I bet it would be utterly disheartening and disappointing to these religious ‘moral arbiters’ if this bill (the magic bullet) wasn’t the first priority bill to be passed to solve the moral bankruptcy, corruption and economic problems facing Ghanaians. The least said about this heinous abuse of morality the better.

The NPP shellacking

There is no doubt that 2024 is the season of fall and graveyard for incumbents globally due to economic dissatisfaction and discontentment of the electorate. However, the NPP tasted its share of the fall by losing decisively, both in the presidential and parliamentary elections, partly because of its present leadership unforced errors and stubbornness in power. Among other reasons are the following, I). not doing enough to tackle the canker of public sector corruption by addressing the ‘colonial entitlement culture’ mindset of treating and abusing state/public properties/resources as ‘Business As Usual’ with impunity, II). not vigorously prosecuting financial misdeeds of past and present government officials/appointees, III). insisting on having a bloated government and not living within its means, IV). continuous splurging on appointees and the legislators with per diem and ex gratia payments when many were going through economic hardship, V). imposition of never ‘thought through’ nuisance taxes like E-levy, Covid-19 tax, Emission tax etc. VI). sending Ghana back to the IMF, VII). engaging in imposition and coronation of party candidates in the primaries rather than embracing vigorous, fair competition, VIII). taking the NPP core base supporters for granted and neglecting the NPP strongholds, leading to apathy and disillusionment — For this negligence alone, the NPP needed to be shellacked (to borrow Obama’s expression).

It’s so obvious that the party hasn’t learnt any lessons at all from its previous electoral defeats in 2008. Why bother chasing a few votes here and there in other places when there are millions of votes to tap in your own strongholds? For the 16 years (2 separate non-consecutive 2 terms) that the NPP has had the privilege of being in government there are still developmental projects that were started way back in 2004, during Kufour’s NPP administration, that have since been abandoned and left uncompleted in the party’s strongholds — e.g. a whole regional teaching hospital serving other regions has been left to deteriorate. The party is only interested in tokenism in its strongholds which is quite not different from the NDC treatment of these same areas. Meanwhile, funds were somehow able to be mobilized to complete projects in Accra and elsewhere. Why is everything in Accra? Ghana is not only Accra!

Nevertheless, there is one redeeming factor about this outgoing NPP government that’s worthwhile and commendable i.e. its determination and directives to do away with the retrogressive policy of allowing outgoing government officials and appointees to buy state and government vehicles at discounted rates. Though late, it’s better late than never. Will the incoming NDC government and its majority in parliament take up the next challenge of getting rid of another retrogressive policy of ex gratia payments to returning parliamentarians? Just because something is legal doesn’t make it morally right but they refuse to accept this because they all benefit from these retrogressive policies.

It’s time for NDC to show its economic prowess

By their actions and deeds you’ll know who they truly are. Yes, the people have spoken and democracy wins, yet still the NDC is not the solution, and certainly, John Mahama is not the right person to lead Ghana out of this economic mess given their past records of economic notoriety. When this entity was given a very good and generous economy in 2009 it turned it into junk from what it inherited, and by 2012–2016 John Mahama had turned it into a wreckage with ‘DumSor’ as a slang. Now that he has a bad one, let’s hope that he and his henchmen don’t make it worse or even worst with baseless excuses and reckless ‘equalization’.

For the sake of the nation, and its long suffering citizens, we pray and desperately hope that we’re proven wrong and our worst nightmares are just bad dreams.

#TheBlackStarDemocracySurvivesAgain

“Facts Are Sacred but Opinions Are Free”

Twitter: @addaimike

Visit blog at: MichaelAddai

http:/www.modernghana.com/author/MichaelAddai

addaimike.medium.com

Copyright © 2024 mikeAddai@Thoughts&Opinions

Email: — mikeaddai@yahoo.com

--

--

No responses yet