Sulemana Braimah, the Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has cautioned that the use of intemperate language by politicians is to convey to electorates that they are tough and have what it takes to lead.
“These statements that set the tone for physical violence appear to be sought after by the public because increasingly, what is happening is people resorting to pro-violence and hard-hitting language to prove that they are tough,” he said.
Mr Braimah bemoaned that was what the followers would want to hear to prove that they had a candidate who was tough, did not fear and prepared to go all out to win power.
His comments come at a time when the citizenry have expressed conflicting opinions to recent comment by former President John Mahama which many had described as insidious during his thank you tour.
The former president allegedly reiterated his suspicion the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was clearly robbed but accepted the Supreme Court’s verdict for the sake of peace, unity, cohesion and harmony.
According to former President Mahama, “I want to state that the next elections will be won or lost at the polling stations and collation centres so it will be a “do or die” affair, I am not saying “all die be die”, I am saying it will be “do or die” because the right thing must be done” which the followers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) described was in bad taste, undemocratic and demanded retraction.
But the former president insisted there was no need for retraction as his statement was an idiomatic expression meant to inform NDC followers to be vigilant at the polling stations and collation centres to ensure the next elections was not rigged and eventually seek redress at the Supreme Court.
However, Mr Braimah noted that the controversial comment from the former president comes as no surprise because of current demand although he had been known to be a man who speaks against such actions.–myjoyonline.com
