We must work towards national unity

Mr Nutifafa Kuenyehia, a former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), has appealed to Ghanaians of all walks of life to work towards national unity and integration as envisaged by the founding fathers of the nation.

“In whatever situation we find ourselves our primary interest must be how our individual actions will culminate in a united collective good of all Ghanaians,” he advised in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.

Mr Kuenyehia was virtually compelled to speak openly when he was cited as a prominent Ewe who could testify to the integrity of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo by former President Jerry John Rawlings, when he condemned what has been described as an ethnocentric campaign statement by a former Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor.

Mrs Attivor told a gathering of NDC supporters that a future government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would wantonly persecute and prosecute Ewes serving under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

She said the NPP had the penchant for targeting and jailing leading figures of the NDC from the Volta Region, when they were in power.

Reaction

In his reaction, Flt. Lt. Rawlings asserted that tribalism was not one of the character traits of Nana Akufo-Addo and indicated that prominent Ewes such as Mr Kuenyehia could testify to that about Nana Akufo-Addo.

Mr Kuenyehia,  who is also a former Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), explained that he had shied away from making personal comments in the open, but had been compelled to speak on this matter for two reasons, the first being the challenge thrown at him by Flt Lt Rawlings and the other being that he considered himself as a senior citizen. 

“As an individual I have shied away from making personal public statements about national issues. Indeed in the past whether as President of the GBA or Chairman of the NMC, whatever statements I made publicly reflected the official position and never my personal views.

“However, in this particular instance, if I do not publicly react, it could be misconstrued or misinterpreted in ways that could be detrimental to national unity and the need for political tolerance,” he said.

Association 

Mr Kuenyehia said he had been associated with Nana Akufo-Addo for close to two generations, first as students at the University of Ghana in 1966, when Nana Akufo-Addo was called to the Bar in 1977 and when he was President of the GBA in 1992, Nana Akufo-Addo being part of the national executive.

He also testified about the fact that he was aware that Nana Akufo-Addo had mentored a large number of lawyers from diverse ethnic, regional, political and religious backgrounds without any form of discrimination.

“We may have our individual differences, weaknesses, political orientation, religious beliefs and ethnic values and loyalties, but in all sincerity and certainty, Nana Akufo-Addo is not tribalistic or ethnocentric. Indeed divisiveness on any ground is never part of the man Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as I have known him and associated with him.”

Mr Kuenyehia accordingly appealed to people from the Volta Region to stand up and condemn the unfortunate statement made by Mrs Attivor in the interest of national unity and cohesion.