1. Our representatives in Parliament MUST urgently make a carefully-worded statement on the floor of the House, genuinely condemning the said publications;
- The proposed statement must demand a probe into (a) what (inspired and) (b) when, (c) where, (d) why, and (e) how the offensive publications came to be made. It must also establish the brains behind the publications;
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The proposed probe must also establish the institutional failures, if any, that may have led to the said publications reaching our markets, homes and schools;
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The outcome of the proposed probe must aim to:
(a) Place culpability where it must be placed;
(b) Recommend severe sanctions against any person or group(s) of persons whose active and or passive support and or dereliction of duty led to the publications complained of;
(c) Recommend urgent but effective reforms that must be introduced and enforced regarding the contents of modern teaching materials. The reforms must answer prescribe (and enforce) how and who is qualified to author and or produce text books for our pupils;
(d) Produce a draft bill for scrutiny and subsequent passage into law as a robust anti-discrimination legislation targeting tribal bigotry and nation-wrecking discrimination of all forms. The targets should, for example, include potential bosses refusing jobs to qualified applicants simply because of where such applicants come from. Additionally, it should also aim to take down public officials who actively discriminate against other citizens seeking national opportunities like public scholarships, placement in our national teams, and job promotions etc. It could also target parents or guardians who actively object to relationships between their children and those from outside their clans or tribes. Further, it could target religious bigots who frustrate marriages between members of their religion and persons from outside their religion;
(e) The proposed law may create or may not a special unit within the CHRAJ, giving it full power and resources to investigate and prosecute all deserving complaints of nation-wrecking bigotry and discrimination in all its forms;
(f) The proposed law must make it clear that the authority to prosecute is not limited to only offences committed in Ghana. In other words, Ghanaian citizens in foreign lands should be subject to the scope of the provisions of the law once their behaviour (even in foreign lands) gets determined to have broken the law;
(g) The proposed Special Unit within CHRAJ must be mandated to submit annual reports to Parliament on the progressive measures it has taken to ensure greater integration of Ghana at all levels.
(h) The proposed reforms and the law to flow from any probe MUST be religiously enforced with ‘all the firmness’ the State can command.
Conclusion
Bigotry, especially those ethnic and religious in character, have throughout history unleashed many, if not most, the gravest forms of conflicts and injustices known to man. Thus, if you agree with all or most of my thoughts and recommendations above, kindly share this post until your MP gets to see it. Better still, look for him or her on social media, tag him or her, or copy it or print it and send it to him or her. Alternatively, you can modify the recommendations without defeating their very essence and spirit – defeating bigotry – and then bring them to the attention of your MP. Whatever you do, it must be an active patriotic role aimed at blurring, if not eliminating, the evolving barefaced bigotry in our country before it explodes in our faces. The time for action is NOW! Please play your party, no matter how small.
From behind my study desk in a foreign land, I say thank you so much for choosing to ACT boldly today to save our nation and preserve her peace and unity tomorrow!
By Richard Dela Sky