Open Letter To The Chief of Defence Staff, The Inspector General of Police & Heads of Ghana's Secret Services

Gentlemen,

I shall go straight to the point: In light of the bellicose noises being made by a number of  verbally-aggressive politicians, you ought to meet with all the presidential candidates, and their national and regional party chairpersons, as soon as practicable.

During that crucial meeting, you must make it absolutely clear to all of them that as last-line defenders of our constitutional democracy, you will not tolerate any violence perpetrated by political party supporters that will tip Ghana over the precipice, on polling day, 7th December, 2016, and in the days in its immediate aftermath.

Gentlemen, in an age of global terrorism, you must delve into the bottom of the allegation that the military has seized an arms cache in Kumasi - the selfsame city in which an unregistered female Chinese "arms trader" was exposed not too long ago.

The latest arms cache said to have been seized by the military in the Kumasi home of a known member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is reported to have been delivered in vehicles with Nigerian registration plates. If true, that is simply intolerable: How did those vehicles get into Ghana with arms and ammunitions in them?

With regional terrorist groups such as Boko Haram extending their footprint across the west African sub-region,  you must be vigilant: and ensure that they do not use power-drunk and power-hungry political actors to gain access to our sovereign territory: and cause mayhem here on their behalf.

Who was behind the planting of the improvised explosive device said to have been discovered near the residence of the deputy regional minister of the Ashanti Region, not too long ago? Perchance, was that incident a dry-run for more of such terror attacks, going forward into the future, after the elections?

It is said that coming events cast their shadows. You must always be conscious of the fact that we have a political class made up mostly of "professional politicians" - unprincipled and amoral characters: who see political office as an opportunity to amass wealth by stealth: and for whom either winning power or holding on to it is a matter of life and death. Literally.

Gentlemen, you owe it to the ordinary people of Ghana - in whom sovereignty resides under the 1992 Constitution - to protect them from such vile and despicable individuals, for whom politics is a lucrative business: and who arrogantly think they can use violence as a political tool to advance their selfish interests.

Keep tabs on all verbally-aggressive politicians - from across the spectrum - from now until the days in the immediate aftermath of the presidential and parliamentary elections, when the results are officially declared by the Electoral Commission.

Let your Special Forces deal ruthlessly with those of them that incite violence amongst their parties' supporters - wherever such incidents occur in Ghana. The NDC's Naaba Abdulai, Robert Owusu and Solomon Nkansah come readily to mind.

Above all, ignore the outrageous remark reportedly  made recently by Hackman Owusu Agyemang of the New Patriotic Party - a fine gentleman who ought to  have known better if true - that a Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces had commented publicly on the prevailing tense  political climate and that that was unprecedented. Pure nonsense on bamboo stilts.

Gentlemen, what is unprecedented in the history of Ghana's  4th Republic,  is the egregious arrogance of a regional NPP chairperson, the uncouth and verbally-aggressive Bernard Antwi-Boasiako,  'ordering' security agency personnel to disobey their superiors, and a sitting NPP member of Parliament, that barbarian and loud-mouthed Kennedy Adjapong, publicly urging party supporters to lynch security agency personnel protecting polling stations, under certain circumstances, on polling day. Imagine that.

That leading figures in a political party can be so irresponsible and still remain influential party members is beyond belief in a civilised country such as ours. That is why for the sake of the ordinary people of Ghana, you must deal ruthlessly with all those amongst  our mostly amoral, unprincipled and corrupt political class, who will forment trouble during polling day, and in its immediate aftermath.

Clearly, under the circumstances (with such cynical and ruthless individuals exerting considerable influence in their parties), that is the only way to protect Ghanaian democracy: whose last-line defenders you command  - during polling day and in the days following the declaration of the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Gentlemen, always remember that Ghana is not the private property of any group of politicians. Neither is leading the nation as President of the Republic of Ghana the birthright of any politician - such that our country must burn because he or she is  dissatisfied with election results.

Finally, should the need to do so ever arise, please stand up to our political class, on behalf of the ordinary people of Ghana,  on polling day - and in the days following it. This is our only homeland and we do not want to end up becoming refugees elsewhere.

No politician or group of extremist individuals must be allowed to turn the lives of ordinary people in this country upside down, and destabalise our nation, and get away with it. Please make sure that that never happens.

Thank you.

Yours in the service of Mother Ghana,

Kofi Thompson.