You don't have to engage in 'gutter politics' to be recognized - Professor Gyampo

Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Ranford Gyampo has expressed his disgust at the level at which highly revered political figures are willing to lower their standards in order to score cheap political points.

He believes politicking can be conducted in all its forms, including canvassing admiration without the need to necessarily having to engage in what he describes as “gutter partisan politics.”

“Politically decent people must not show mastery of “gutter partisan politics” just for the purposes of eliciting acceptance among their partisan ranks. There is a way to maintain your brand, political decency & still be accepted as politically astute.”

Dr Gyampo’s advice comes on the back of recent calls on political figures to de-politicize discussions surrounding the fight against Covid-19.

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and former President John Dramani Mahama have been engaging in a war of words with the former accusing the NDC flagbearer of not showing leadership during the power crisis that engulfed the nation during his era.

Bawumia’s outburst was a rebuttal to claims by the former President that the coronavirus has exposed the fragility of the economy despite assertions by the government that the “economy has been the best that we have ever had since independence”.

In a Facebook Live session on Thursday, April 23, 2020, dubbed: ‘John Dramani Mahama in a Digital Conversation’, the former President said this about the economy: “… It is always necessary when you are building an economy to have enough buffers and create fiscal space so that when you are faced with a shock or adversity, you are easily able to overcome it.”

“Unfortunately, this government has used a lot of propaganda saying the economy has been the best that we have ever had since independence. Unfortunately, just one month of coronavirus, the economy is in ICU. If we didn’t run to the IMF for the one billion rapid credit facility, it is possible that in the next month, probably, salaries would not have been paid and, so, our economy is on ventilators, and it needs thinking to rescue it from the ICU.”

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in an interaction with the press at the Jubilee House said the erratic power supply christened ‘Dumsor’ that engulfed Ghana under the Mahama administration was internally generated and managed rather poorly as compared to how the coronavirus is being managed.

He is quoted to have said, “…Under the NDC, it was an internally-generated crisis, which was 'dumsor'. Under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo, there has been an externally generated crisis, which has been the global coronavirus pandemic…I just want you to ask yourself, how have these two crises been managed? The 'dumsor' crisis which crippled this economy for four years. What were the mitigating measures offered to businesses and individuals during the 'dumsor', an internally generated crisis?”