Election 2024: Political historian cautions against pre-election statements by politicians
Professor Samuel Adu Gyamfi, a political historian at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has voiced concerns over recent comments made by politicians as the December 7 elections approach.
During a rally in the Eastern Region, Bryan Acheampong, MP for Abetifi, declared that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would do whatever is necessary to secure victory. In response, Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP for Adaklu, stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would resist any attempts to undermine the electoral process.
Prof. Adu Gyamfi warned that such statements could endanger the nation’s stability, urging politicians to be mindful of their words. He emphasized the need for politicians to communicate in ways that promote clarity, order, and sanity, rather than inflaming passions and potentially leading to chaos.
“People can be very sentimental and the extent of attachment to political parties is like twins that are conjoined or Siamese twins. And because of that, we have to be very careful about what we say and how we communicate with party people.
“I think that the two gentlemen [Bryan Acheampong and Kwame Governs Agbodza] have not done justice to the cause and the future of our democracy.
“It is important to have clarity in your statement and also where an opponent has even erred, among other things, the tone and the zest with which you respond must be measured in such a way that the choice of your words would rather call for sanity, call for clarity and call for order and not seem to have a certain tone that seems to inflame passion.”
