Dear Mustapha Gbande!
I bring you warm felicitations, and I hope this all-important piece finds you hale hearty as the Deputy General Secretary of the Ruling National Democratic Congress, NDC.
Before I delve deeper into the substance or the heart of this open letter to you, as a Deputy General Secretary of NDC, I expected you to carry yourself in a dignified and cultured manner.
But, it thus appears that you are on a high lane anytime an opportunity is granted to you to air your viewpoint on National issues of great concern to all.
In fact, I have followed political actors from these political Parties, particularly with their engagements with the media when delicate matters are on the front burner for discussions.
Notably, anytime you open your mouth to contribute to such matters either on TV or Radio, I feel like vomiting due to the sort of garbage that comes out from your buccal cavity as the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC.
Largely and like I said, I monitor your colleague Deputy General Secretaries from other political Parties where they display an absolute sense of decorum in their agreement or disagreement with regards to matters discussed.
But truth be told, you, as Deputy General Secretary of the Ruling National Democratic, NDC is horror and full of drama, comedy, and sheer disrespect for authority.
You, Mr. Gbande, have demonstrated your lack of knowledge and also went to the extreme of speaking haphazardly without regard to the peace and dignity of other people whom you may disagree with.
Yes, Freedom of speech is an essential component when it comes to deepening the frontiers of our democracy and the constitution at large. No one denies you your free speech, but yours is unhealthy and can lead to insecurity in the country.
Why do I have such a thought? Your previous and recent engagements with the media with your unguided and uncouth utterances depict the kind of person who deliberately speaks to provoke others in a different political divide.
What’s worth noting is that your position isn’t child’s play, and it’s incumbent on you to live up to the billing and not lower it as a veranda boy or one of the social media people from your Party who are also engaged in verbal abuse of people.
Without mincing words, your utterances are unhealthy, demeaning, malicious, devastating, and disastrous, and can inflame passion if care is not taken to be replied by your opponents in other political parties with the same venom you continue to spit into the media space.
Mr. Gbande, you are on record to have made very damning and highly scandalous statements that can degenerate into reprisal attacks and counterattacks. What do you want to achieve with such disparaging remarks?
Even though it has become your antics to sway and capture the attention of your superiors and headlines in the media space, but, how does it contribute to and also enhance our democratic principles?
Although some of your superiors may have ordered you to make such ill-thought arguments, you must rethink and think outside the box and change a new leave as National Officer of the NDC.
This important piece is to highlight and speak the truth to your hearing anywhere you find yourself to reflect on your utterances and make amends for a change in character.
Doubtless, we are human with varied shortcomings in our daily engagement and activities, but yours is becoming a norm, which doesn’t sound well of you as a political figure from the governing National Democratic Congress, NDC.
Mr. Gbande, I would like to highlight and give some examples with regard to the unguided utterances you have made in the past that many deemed unhealthy and lacking manners.
In one of your media engagements, you clearly stated that the NDC will sacrifice the Minority leader, Hon.Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, for the sharp-witted and skillful manner in which he has so kept your Party in government to its toes on the floor of Parliament.
You made this unfortunate and highly condemnable statement in February on the UTV program dubbed “MPU NE MPU” and I
“If Afenyo-Markin is being encouraged by the Party leadership to sacrifice himself, we will sacrifice him.” – Mustapha Foyo Gbande.
To say it as it is, what authority do you have, as a mere Deputy General Secretary of NDC, to issue such a stern warning to the Minority leader for discharging his duties? Is it because your Party is in power? However, this is your character because even in opposition you made similar statements.
As many thought, with the backlash you have received from the public, something important would have been done to the way you speak without brakes. Suddenly, you made another controversial statement about the Former President, Nana Addo, and his appointees.
Mr. Gbande as you may have recalled, yesterday on the Asempa Radio program dubbed “Ekosiisen” when OB had an interview with you, you made another categorical statement to the effect that “The game is yet to begin. More arrests are on the way. Even if Akufo-Addo has to be placed under house arrest, that will be done. The Minority in parliament can go and burn the sea”. ~Mustapha Gbande. Deputy General Secretary, NDC
In effect, Mr. Gbande, your Party is in power, and you can call for the arrest of people whom you allegedly believed may have caused financial loss to the state, but what I find outmoded in your statement has to do with “if Akufo Addo has to be placed under house, that will be done.”
The Former President, Nana Addo, has served his 8 years term as the commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and he has delivered several pro-poor policies that touch every household i.e., Free SHS policy, reintroduction of Teacher and Nursing training allowances which your Party canceled and had to beat a retreat after the consequences.
Since you want to be heard as the only Deputy General Secretary with the audacity to utter words without brakes, it is important for you to reflect deeply and know that we are being governed by the laws of the Country and not laws made by NDC.
In addition, we all know what the NDC does, especially rewarding Party people who can speak with venom and without regard for the peace of the Country. That’s why you were appointed as Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency.
As youthful exuberance full of energy and vigor, Mr Gbande, this piece is to let you know that other people have done similar things as you are happily engaged in, but ask yourself, where are they now with their political career?
This should be a guide for you to know that the NDC won’t remain in power forever, and power is transient, too. Therefore, don’t be carried away by the power to engage in inflammatory or hate speeches that have the tendency to plunge the Country into chaos.
In conclusion, as the Deputy General Secretary and Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, I implore you to use your energy to help your government fully implement your so-called 24-hour economy policy, which was not even captured in your budget.
That should be your headache for the youth and not the continued verbal diarrhea without basis.
Shalom!
Trust wisely!
By: Abdulai Abdul-Razak
Tamale South Constituency
[email protected]