Okudzeto: Ghanaians Have An Indisputable, Indefeasible�Divine Right To Know The Character Of Potential Rulers

A Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that though he abhors politics of insults, he sees nothing wrong with minutely assessing the character of any individual who wants to manage the affairs of the country. According to him, since the 2012 campaign messages of the various political parties would be based on character assessments and not insults, leaders of these parties must bear in mind that 'what they say and the work they have done', will all be a factor in assessing them. Contributing to discussions on Joy FM's 'NewsFile', he stated that upon a careful look at events which transpired during the recent NPP�s Greater Accra rally at James Town, one can boldly say that they (NPP) have not 'learnt anything' from factors that led to their 2008 electoral defeat. To him the fact that the NPP gave an opportunity to the MP for Asokwa, Hon Maxwell Kofi Jumah to address the gathering is an indication that the NDC�s political opponents have not mended their ways. The Asokwa MP reportedly asked all electorates who voted for President Mills in 2008 to go down on their knees and ask God to forgive them for their sins at the said rally. To buttress his point, the deputy Information Minister alluded to Dr. Arthur Kennedy�s book; �Chasing The Elephant Into The Bush: The Politics Of Complacency�, where the writer, lamented that persons not directly involved in the campaign hijacked it by taking center stage and making statements that did not inure to the benefit of the flagbearer, saying a similar scenario is being re-enacted. Still on the issue of the character of political office holders, Okudzeto Ablakwa quoted from �A dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law� by John Adams, the second President of the USA, on why the public needs to know the conduct of those seeking to rule over them. �Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right...and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers," he re-echoed the words of John Adams. According to him, 'moral character� is important as well as one's choice of words, in terms of what one says and the work one does. �There are some people, because they know they are suffering from character deficiency, would want to lump all together,� he said. To sum up, he stated that it will be interesting to know exactly what the publisher of the �Chronicle� newspaper, Mr Kofi Koomson meant when he said 'he can't sleep with Nana Addo as president' since he was a close confidante of the NPP flagbearer and therefore a best judge of his character.