I have been listening to Radio Gold and at times when time permits I listen to the Konkonsa program. Of late I have been listening to play back of messages Nana Ampadu gave while he was supposed to be with the NDC.

It is obvious that the said recording is meant to portray the sort of character Nana Ampadu is. I hear there will be more recording played on Mamee Dorkuno as well in the coming weeks. In the first place Nana Ampadu as an artist in Ghana can be paid to work for any political party and as a Ghanaian is free to join any party for how many times he wishes.

I am writing this piece to point out that Nana Ampadu is not the very first person to have switched political camps and he is not going to be the last.

People have moved from camp A to B and gone back to A but nothing was said about these people.

I believe that our constitution guarantees freedom of association and that is to say one has the absolute right to associate with anybody he/she feels like linking up with. To take the freedom of speech and use it to ridicule someone amounts to ignorance and political buffoonery.

From the formation of the CPP to date, Ghana has ideologically remained between the CPP and the UP traditions. Parties formed after these two parties have followed their traditions while newer parties also try to find a middle way between the two. Once those newer parties have never won any political power, one cannot say how their ideological stance would have been in practice. That still leaves Ghana as a two party democracy. From the pre-independence time to the present day, people have been crossing carpets or forming their own parties where they seem to have divergent of views with leaders of their parties. For fifty years or so, one would think this would have been associated with our culture but with the recent radio attention given to Nana Ampadu and the promised one for Mamee Dorkuno, one has to point out where the line is drawn. Those who have been blessed to have the airwaves at their disposal should not use it to denigrate others, because no one is a thief unless he/she is caught.

I do not intend to ask the radio station or the program “Konkonsa” to desist from its purported airings of the sayings of the characters I have mentioned. I will wish this gentleman who runs this program will also take a time to examine and air what I have to say about a character of one of our leaders.

In 1979 a constitution was signed into force. This constitution was signed by the then Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings. Within twenty seven months, this same person who signed the constitution overthrew the same constitution thereby displaying to me in particular that he did not and does not respect his own signature. I have always wondered why this issue has never been addressed, yet we are ready to address those of people who never held public office but depended on their creativity to sustain their lives and the life of others. I will never associate with someone who can deny his own signature, that is to say I mean nothing to him/her.

Perhaps to some of us the sanctity of a signature means nothing but a mere scribbling on a piece of paper. To others it means life and death. If you ask the former president, he will tell you that all those who were executed under his rule received his signature that is why that signature should be sacrosanct. It is the same signature that has saved lives like those of G-Mann and others. It still translates into the fact that if the former president were a businessman, I will think twice before doing business with him since there is a high level of trust in the business milieu.

To Nana Ampadu, Mamee Dorkuno, and all others who feel and think like joining the NPP, do not be held back by this radio crusade against your persons. Express your political actions and thoughts for any party you wish and remember that when all is said and done, there is one political tradition that will not humiliate you and that is the NPP.

Kofi Muzenge

Maryland USA