Page 83 - Afrika Must Unite

68 AFRICA MUST UNITE

standards just as low. I think no one would deny that the m ain­
tenance of a democracy by the people of Europe and America
at the parallel stage would have been a massive task. Yet it is the
task we faced in G hana on our assumption of independence.
This task might have been eased a little had we been blessed
with a reasonable and not violently destructive opposition. A
serious, well-intentioned opposition keeps a government alive
to its responsibilities, guarantees extreme care in the pre­
paration and formulation of programmes, and underlines the
need for sponsors of legislation to be able to justify their proposals.
The essence of such discussion, if it is to be of benefit, is that it
must be constructive. This is the strength of the opposition in the
established democracies of the world. They recognize that they,
together with the government of the day, proceed from the
major premise that they have a joint aim, to advance the welfare
of the people. Both have a vital part to play in the building of
their country and the speeding of its development. The govern­
ment initiates; the opposition is constructively critical.
Unfortunately this has not been the case in Ghana. The
narrowest interpretation of the term ‘opposition5 has been the
guiding principle for the opposition party both inside and out­
side Parliament. Their repeated rejection by the electorate con­
vinced them that the possibility of gaining office by constitu­
tional means was remote. They therefore embarked on a policy of
obstructing the government, without devising a programme on
which they would base an alternative one. Their politics have
been narrowly regional in concept, and often violent, abusive and
terroristic in action. W ithin Parliament, the castigation of the
cabinet has been, to them, an end in itself rather than an instru­
ment for securing better conditions for the people. The measure
of their intent is that they seek to add to the difficulties of govern­
ment and heighten the obstacles which need to be overcome so
that, with a breakdown in administration, they may get a chance
of grasping the reins of office.
It may be argued that some of these characteristics are present
in any opposition party. This is true, but not to the same extent
as in Ghana. Elsewhere they are set in the context of an alter­
native over-all programme of government. The Labour Party
in Britain, for example, follows a political doctrine opposed to