A most shameful and violent incident occured on the morning of Sunday, 13th November, 2016, in front of the principal private residence of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, at Nima.
Incredibly, according to news reports, in a confrontation between supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Nima home of the presidential candidate of the NPP, ended up being pelted with stones and empty glass bottles.
The NDC supporters involved in that early Sunday morning affray - between supporters of the two biggest political parties in Ghana - had been participating in what was apparently supposed to be a healthy-lifestyle power-walkathon.
The question is: Why did the geniuses who organised it not choose a different route - one that would not have taken them past Nana Addo's residence?
The resulting outrage that occured on Sunday morning, because myrmidon-supporters of the NDC and NPP clashed around the home of Nana Addo, ought to be condemned in no uncertain terms. Such irresponsible and barbaric confrontations ought to have no place in our nation's politics.
Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has been in the trenches, in all the battles that have been fought by patriotic individuals, to restore and protect the freedoms of ordinary Ghanaians from military dictatorships, over the decades.
He does not deserve such treatment. And neither does any other Ghanaian citizen, deserve such treatment, for that matter.
That unfortunate occurence, at Nana Addo's Nima residence, also highlights the daftness and folly of the NPP's continued refusal to allow the security agencies to protect its leaders - as is the case in all the major democracies of the West in an age of global terrorism.
It is that antipathy towards the security agencies by those who handle security matters for the NPP that no doubt made the Ghana Police Service's Nima Divisional Police Command initially hesitant, in deciding to intervene to contain the uncalled for violence - lest they be accused by the same NPP of being behind the violence that occured around Nana Addo's Nima residence.
The NPP cannot eat its cake and have it in the matter of the protection of its leaders - it either opts to handle its own security and accepts the consequences of that blinkered policy: or opts to collaborate with the state security agencies to ensure the protection of its leaders at all material times.
Its current stance on this issue is shortsighted and extremely foolish.
Be that as it may, the point needs to be made that political violence has no place in 21st century Ghanaian politics. We are a civilised people after all, are we not?
That is why those who threw stones and bottles, into the compound of the Nima residence of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, last Sunday morning, must not be left unpunished. They must all pay for the egregious crimes they committed that morning.
It is totally unacceptable that such a provocative incident - resulting from the sheer stupidity of a number of undisciplined individuals, amongst the memberships and supporters of both the NDC and NPP, could occur in what is a democracy supposed to be underpinned by tolerance.
Nothing can justify what happened that morning. Naturally, we will all get to know the exact chain of events that morning, in due course, after police investigations into that outrage are completed. Violent individuals and and violence-prone groups of party supporters must never be allowed to hold our nation to ransom, ever.
That is why it is important that the leadership of the NDC visits the family of the presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, today, at their Nima home - which was so shamefully violated by the morons who attacked it - to sympathise with them and to offer them their moral support.
And, from that selfsame Nima residence of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, the NDC's leaders must issue a public apology on their party's behalf, for the psychological effects of the atrocious actions of the lawless elements amongst their party's supporters, on Nana Addo and his family. They will find that it will earn them the respect of discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.
The NDC's leaders must condemn, in clear and unambiguous language, the uncivilised fools who disgraced their party, by acting so irresponsibly and shamefully.
Those who took part in that abominable and unspeakable act of madness - from both political parties - ought to be quickly identified, arrested, charged by the police, and swiftly prosecuted.
Hopefully, they will then be jailed by the law courts, for their reprehensible and irresponsible actions and inactions - which could have sparked violence right across the nation. We must never tolerate such barbarism in our nation's politics.
The Ghana Police Service must appeal for evidence - such as video and photographs - from the general public. It will help speed up investigations into the matter.
It will enable them to quickly identify those who hurled dangerous objects into the compound of the NPP's presidential candidate's Nima residence, and also tore NPP banner election campaign advertisments pasted on the fence-wall of the said property.
After receiving and analysing such video clips, and photographs, from members of the general public, who witnessed that abomination, the police must have still images from the videos and photographs of the perpetrators, published in all the newspapers.
The videos and photographs must also be shown by all the television stations currently operating in Ghana. The Ghana Police Service must then ask all those subsequently identified by the public, to report to the CID headquarters, immediately.
It is totally unacceptable for the homes of the leaders of Ghana's political parties to be attacked by unruly supporters of rival political parties
Above all, the NPP security guard, on duty at Nana Addo's home that Sunday morning, who allegedly pointed a gun at the commander of the anti-terrorism unit of the Ghana Police Service, then pionted it in the air, fired it, and pointed it back again at the commander of the ant-terrorism unit, ought to be arrested immediately, and processed for court as soon as practicable.
If that had happened in the UK, or the US, he would have died on the spot in a hail of bullets fired simultaneously by officers of their police anti-terrorism units. And quite rightly too. He is a barbarian, a bloody fool and an arrogant thug. Period.
Such gross disrespect shown to the men and women of the security agencies, who daily risk their lives to keep all Ghanaians safe, is simply intolerable - as was the violence shown by the irresponsible supporters of both the NDC and NPP around Nana Addo's residence at Nima.
Ghanaian society ought to show its distaste for such egregious acts of violence, and make that abhorrence of political violence absolutely clear to supporters of all the political parties in this country - by demanding the prosecution of the perpetrators.
The time has now come for Ghana's political parties to collaborate with the security agencies to take the necessary steps needed to ensure that the homes of all presidential candidates are designated as security zones.
Public access to such homes ought to be restricted - and entry to them allowed for a select and approved number of individuals only.
The point also needs to be made that in our Republic, leading our country is not the birthright of any politician - such that our beloved country must be turned upside down by his or her supporters if they do not win presidential elections.
Both President Mahama and Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo will doubtless concur to that. As will all the other candidates vying for the presidency in this December's presidential election.
After all, to stop their country slipping into chaos and violence, ordinary Ghanaians might very well decide to vote overwhelmingly for Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom - who wants to form a government of national unity, made up of the most honest and brightest Ghanaians, irrespective of their political backgrounds - to become Ghana's next President.
Finally, whatever the immediate cause was, the confrontation between supporters of the NDC, and NPP, in front of the Nima home of the NPP's presidential candidate, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, last Sunday morning, ought to be condemned in no uncertain terms - by all who actually care about the stability and long-term future of our homeland Ghana. Nothing can justify it. Period
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