The tragic incidents in Kumasi last February 4, during which at least three people were killed and scores injured should be a matter of grave concern to all those who have the welfare of this country at heart, and the government should be most concerned of all people. This is why we are very much disappointed that the government has maintained dead silence over the matter. 

And the troubles in Kumasi erupted because the authorities refused to grant a permit to the newly formed People’s Movement for Freedom and Justice to educate the public on why they should vote “No” in the coming referendum. A subsequent public meeting scheduled for Accra on Friday, 10th February had to be called off because the police refused permit to the movement without assigning any reason. It was perhaps wise of the leaders of the movement to have called off the meeting because if it had gone on, all indications are that the tragic events of Kumasi would have paled into insignificance in relation to the lives that would have been lost or the skulls and limbs that would have been broken.

Now, one may well ask, who is to blame for this gradual sliding back into the dark days of 1954-56 in Ashanti? It is interesting to note in this context that the various groupings supporting Union Government such as the Peace and Solidarity Council, the Friends, the Organisers, the Kumasi Youngsters Club, etc., have held numerous public manifestations without any harassment, and they have all presumably been granted police permits. Now the PMFJ has tried on two occasions to do something similar to what the other organisations have been doing, and either it has been refused a permit or the meeting has been violently disrupted. 

One should also recall that last October, when the Association Recognised Professional Bodies tried to hold a symposium on Union Government, it was violently broken up. University students who have demonstrated against the proposal have also been brutally suppressed. Is it by some miracle or by a sheer conspiracy of circumstances that anti-Union Government demonstrations and meetings end violently and even fatally on one occasion? Since we find it particularly obtuse to assume that anti-Union Government people sadistically disrupt their own meetings and inflict wounds on their members, we are forced to the read: of terrorism and senselessness are conclusion that such wanton acts perpetrated by the various bodies canvassing for a “Yes” vote in the coming referendum.

In this regard, it is shameful that the government is pretending that it is unaware of what is happening. If the government claims sincerely to be ignorant of what is happening, that ignorance is most reprehensible. If on other hand, it is aware but is incapable of controlling the thugs supporting it, the impotence is still most reprehensible. Again, if the government is aware of what is happening and yet has decided to allow its various supporters to tear this country asunder, it cannot escape censure either. We believe that the government of the S.M.C. is sufficiently well informed of the real situation to curb the exuberance of the vast array of organisations supporting it and its Union Government proposal.

We call on the government to allow the PMFJ and any other groups so inclined to canvas against the Union Government proposal. The Head of State and his lieutenants keep on repeating that people are free to discuss the pros and cons of Union Government freely and openly. They also add that they want the referendum to be freely decided. But how can the voting be free and fair when people  who oppose the idea are being coerced and brutalised  into silence through the denial of police permits and the forcible breaking up of anti-Union Government meetings by both organised thugs and even law-enforcement officers?

We are neither amused nor impressed by the Government’s attitude; on the other hand, we are deeply disturbed and saddened by it for we cannot easily escape the conclusion that the government is taking away in the right hand what it has given in the left hand. And it will not be at variance with Christian charity to accuse the government of lack of  sincerity or even supreme hypocrisy. 

We have had occasion to say more than once in these columns that if  the government wants to impose Union Government on the people of this country, it has the power to do so, provided it is willing to take the consequences of its own temerity. We believe people are getting fed with the hollow appeals to citizens to discuss the issues frankly so that  they can vote freely and sensibly. We want the government statements to be backed by concrete action which should take the form of granting permits with police protection to any movement or organisation that wants to persuade the public by rational means to vote one way or the other. It should also offer protection to those who participate in or listen to such discussions. Short of this, the whole referendum exercise will be a sham and a tragic farce.

On both occasions when the PMFJ made abortive efforts to address the public both in Kumasi and. Accra, the crowds which thronged the place should indicate to the government that there have been large numbers of people in this country who were looking for leadership and an organisation to articulate their opposition to the Union Government proposal. We hope the government’s intelligence services have faithfully apprised the Government of this. What this means is that the government and its agencies and supporters may by various contrivances obtain “Yes” the referendum, but many citizens will feel embittered that they have been cheated of their birthright to have a proper say in the affairs of the state. This is certainly not the way to build one nation with one people and one destiny.

The government of the SMC needs to be reminded that a form of government arrived at by force rather than by reasoned persuasion cannot last. There are two necessary conditions for the use of force: it must be sufficient and it must be constant. When one of the conditions is missing, the result is nothing but chaos and bloodshed. Are we to anticipate a situation in which people’s rights will be permanently subordinated to military and police might? The government should also realise that the encouragement or the condoning of thuggery by its supporters will create a situation from which it cannot easily extricate itself, especially when it cannot satisfy the appetites of all its supporters all the time. It is the future of Ghana at stake right now, and this is the time for those who love Ghana to stand up and be counted. We call on church leaders to bring every possible pressure on the government of the SMC to ensure that people express themselves freely without the police or other groups of citizens making it impossible for them to do so. The government’s good reputation is at stake on this matter, and it should do everything to save it.

Read other editorials below:

• Student Power of Sorts
• Two More Cars Burnt: Who Burnt Them
• University Students Discuss Future
• The Economics Of University Education 
• Towards A More Meaningful Referendum