Politics of Machoism

The menace of machomen, not only during elections but in the perpetration of other forms of illegal use of force by hired men over land especially, has tasked the security agencies for some time.

The despicable role of machomen during elections is responsible for most of the mayhem recorded during this national democratic exercise even when security agents are deployed to voting centres to stem their brutalities.

With elections coming, this sore area about which stakeholders have raised concern incessantly to no avail remains an overwhelming drawback which needs a more sincere approach in stemming in our body politic.

Ghanaians have heard so much reassurance from security agencies and even government in the past, yet machomen appear to present a posture of invincibility.

Machoism appears to have taken the nature of an industry drawing patronage from land owners and bad politicians who relish the quick results it presents.

For those who own land, their resort to these hooligans stems from a lost confidence in the policing system in the country. It is unacceptable when such loss of confidence leads to the people looking elsewhere, away from the statutory established agencies such as the police, for remedies.

When President John Mahama yesterday included the subject in his address to Muslims during this year's Eid-ul-Fitr festivity in Accra, he undoubtedly struck the right chord.

With the Zongo communities unfortunately serving as the source of these stoutly built men who would do the bidding of the highest bidder, we only hope that the president's word effect a positive change.

Now an economic mainstay of many a young man in the depressed communities, it remains to be seen how these uneducated persons would stay away from something they have done for many years, the president's admonition notwithstanding.

They would continue to build their muscles and pray that bad politicians come knocking on their doors for their service.  Mr. President would help the cause of the maintenance of law and order by going beyond asking the Zongo communities to turn their back on those who come seeking the mercenaries to go and seize ballot boxes and even stop registration exercises, as in some parts of the Ashanti Region.

The president, who has showed signs of being opposed to machoism and would want the Zongos to stop producing such men, can use his office of Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces to clip the wings of the nuisance called machomen.

The president's knowledge that some politicians draw machomen from the Zongos made interesting observation. Parties which encourage the phenomenon of machoism should be condemned in no uncertain terms, no matter which part of the political divide they belong to. Barka da Sallah.