Political parties are generally perceived as indispensable ingredients in the operations of a functional democratic political system.
This appears to be the case because of a number of important functions they exercise within that dispensation.
One of the most overt functions that political parties exercise is serving as the conduit for representing and realising the interest and aspirations of the people of a given political entity.
There are many more, and even though some may appear anonymous, they are no less important than this representative function.
One such function of political parties is serving as vehicles for the political education of the electorate in particular and the entirety of the populace in general.
In any democracy worth its salt, the political party system thrives on a free contest of ideas, policies, programmes, etc of the various parties on the political landscape.
Political parties, through the crafting and propagation of these ideas, policies and programmes in their respective manifestos, help educate the populace on the what, why, how and when the parties are seeking the people’s mandate to run the affairs of the state.
Thus in their direct and indirect interaction with the people, these parties help enlighten and conscientise the people on the better way forward for society and thereby position them well to make better and more informed choices.
One of the essential prerequisites for the provision of an enabling environment for political parties to educate their followers is the adoption of and adherence to a culture of civility, decorum and respect for the truth.
Any sacrifice of this sane political culture will inexorably lead to confusion and chaos and thereby undermine the ability of the system to realise this lofty objective.
Regrettably, our political discourse in the public sphere has traversed this negative terrain where bellicose, vituperative and obscene language not fit to be published in any decent medium is exchanged among our politicians in the name of politics.
Indeed, name-calling and the concoction and peddling of deliberate falsehood by politicians and their agents, mainly to score what is termed cheap political points in the false belief that it will boost their political fortunes, have assumed a more alarming dimension.
Only recently, many well meaning leaders of society, including President John Evans Atta Mills, religious leaders, chiefs, etc, have all decried this negative development and called for respect for the truth and decency to prevail.
Today, we are happy that our politicians themselves are not enthused about this development and are calling for truth, decency and decorum to prevail in our political discourse.
We unreservedly endorse the call by Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister for Information, for an end to such culture of insults and the peddling of falsehood and non-dignified language and urge everyone, not just our politicians, to demonstrate, at all times, respect for one another, truth, honesty and the supreme national interest (see front page).
We, in this admonition, would want all of us to endeavour to let those positive attributes of telling the truth, respect for others, decency and decorum and the pursuit of the national interest commence from our actions in our homes, offices, churches, mosques, shrines and, more specifically, within our individual political parties.
For it is only when we demonstrate respect for these values at such basic levels that we will inculcate in ourselves and our youth, who are the leaders of tomorrow, the culture of adhering to them.
We also wish to urge our compatriots in the media to endeavour to exercise a great deal of circumspection in the manner in which such negative developments are reported and highlighted.
Sensational reporting in the name of commercialisation could undermine, if not compromise, our hard-won democratic gains, even though we may, as professionals, want to assert the right to mirror our politicians.
Let’s all exercise good judgement and moderation.
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