Opinions of Tuesday, 12 March 2024

Columnist: Abdulai Abdul Razak

Let's refrain from personal, religious, tribal and chieftaincy-related politics

Abdulai Abdul Razak, the writer Abdulai Abdul Razak, the writer

Despite the interest and passion of young people in modern-day politics, their courage, energy, zeal, and vibrancy, the system remains flawed and inaccessible to many.

Without a doubt, some display fantastic Knowledge and understanding, especially with the day-to-day political discourse.

Some exude deeper and more intellectual arguments when the need arises to dissect pertinent issues of great concern to the nation and their political affiliations.

However, it's perplexing and sometimes unimaginable the extent to which some of the youth dabble into certain sensitive matters relating to deeply personal, tribal, religious, chieftaincy, etc.

Instructive to note, it's clear that we still need great orientation and mentoring in the way some of the up-and-coming youth in politics are going overboard which needs urgent attention.

In effect, politics we know is the contest of ideas with hardcore facts and evidence, but it seems we now place a premium on mere insults, personally related issues, religious, tribal, and chieftaincy.

Instead of the youth charting a path of showcasing deeper flair and Knowledge in espousing their views, some go the extra mile to invade into matters of personal health issues some go through as front-line politicians.

Moving forward, what's bizarre is the level at which the youth who should be quick to learn all the nitty gritty in politics are engaged in discussing the health and death of some political leaders with unsubstantiated theories without any medical background.

Indeed, this doesn't bring sanity and open the way for intellectual discourse to take center stage on certain pressing issues that need urgent attention for quick and amicable resolution from our political leaders.

As brazen and brilliant youth, we should rather champion an agenda of the debate focused on issues rather than dabbling in private matters of people and also tribal and chieftaincy-related issues.

I know my limit in the political conversation that I write and speak about far from going deep into the private issues, tribal, religious, and chieftaincy matters. I consider them as sensitive and no-go areas to talk about.

In all honesty, what we are witnessing now all boils down to a lack of effective mentoring and political orientation for those purely engaged in that insensitive posture and political oration.

Certainly, there's a limit to whatever we do as young and energetic youth with a full interest in politics. It's not everything one must dwell on to remain relevant or to become an experienced politician in the future.

In short, building a strong and unshakable foundation for oneself in contemporary politics will be the pivot of one's growth with deep analytical thinking and excellent communication prowess.

It's high time for us to always reflect and ponder over the utterances we make not to subject ourselves to public ridicule on trivializing issues to court the attention of the people.

Realistically, there are people on the sideline who are equally intellectually inclined and can also analyze what we put into the public domain for purposes of communicating for our political parties.

Let's fine-tune and thread a path of intellectually based argument devoid of raising certain personal, tribal, religious, and chieftaincy-related matters which are very sensitive and can create any form of anarchy and further inflame passion.

In conclusion, our focal point as youth with an interest in political discourse should be intellectual and evidence-based, not engaging ourselves in discussing family matters of top politicians to insensitively score political points hook or crock.

Shalom!

Abdulai Abdul Razak abdulrazakabdulai940@gmail.com Tamale South Constituency