In a volatile political climate often defined by animosity, insults and retaliation, former Vice-President and NPP Flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has remarkably taken a different path.

Yesterday, Dr Bawumia publicly called for the discontinuation of a prosecution initiated in his name against an NDC organiser in Agona West who had publicly insulted the former Vice-President. In his statement distancing himself from the prosecution, Dr Bawumia made it clear that he neither lodged a complaint nor supported the arrest of any Ghanaian over speech.

At a time when speech is being criminalised through the persecution and prosecution of citizens by the state, Dr Bawumia’s decisive move is a defining moment of leadership — one that puts democratic values and national unity above personal grievance.

It is for this reason that the former Vice-President, arguably the most verbally abused politician in recent times, is being hailed by true democrats and advocates of the free and responsible exercise of speech.

One of them is respected journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni.

“The credibility of Dr Bawumia’s statement lies in the fact that, as Vice-President, he was constantly abused and insulted for eight years without such arrests,” Manasseh wrote, as he praised both Dr Bawumia’s move and his track record of tolerance as a leader.

Indeed, throughout his nearly two decades in public political life, Dr Bawumia and his wife have been no strangers to vicious criticism, baseless allegations, name-calling and despicable insults. Yet he has remained calm, never retaliated, and has remarkably preferred policy debates to retaliatory attacks.

And as Vice-President for eight years, wielding power and authority as Chairman of the Police Council, he never, for once, used his position to arrest, persecute or prosecute those who constantly insulted him.

In emphasising that his “conviction remains that the answer to offensive speech is better speech, and the answer to falsehood is truth, not handcuffs, courtrooms and crushing bail conditions imposed on ordinary Ghanaians”, Dr Bawumia is only being consistent with the tolerance he has demonstrated throughout his political life.

It is a principle he is now asking the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney-General to uphold by discontinuing the prosecution and, to a large extent, the persecution of the young man.

A call for a different kind of politics

Dr Bawumia’s call goes beyond this case. By this remarkable demonstration of tolerance, Dr Bawumia is also calling for a different kind of politics to advance the kind of participatory democracy Ghana wants to build.

As the NPP Flagbearer succinctly captured in his statement, “Ghana’s democracy is strengthened when citizens, including those who oppose us, can speak freely without fear.”

Dr Bawumia has shown leadership and his human side by extending forgiveness to the young man at the centre of the case and urging all political actors to redirect their energy towards “the issues that matter to the Ghanaian people” — jobs, the cost of living, digital transformation and national development.

Dr Bawumia’s timely intervention, in the midst of the unacceptable criminalisation of speech, must be a clear signal to supporters and opponents alike that Ghana’s democracy is bigger than any individual, and that freedom of expression must be protected even when it is uncomfortable.

His call should also be a reminder to all those who facilitate and spread abuse against people that their right to free speech also requires them to respect the freedom and dignity of their opponents. Criticism and demands for accountability should not be turned into vicious insults, name-calling, baseless allegations and personal attacks.

The message from the NPP Flagbearer is simple: let us respect citizens’ right to free speech; let us argue ideas and not jail people; let us compete on records, not on reprisals.

Yes, citizens must be measured and responsible in their speech. But leaders in power now must not take the nation back to the dark, oppressive days of criminalising speech.

In Dr Bawumia’s words, our democracy will be stronger and Ghana will be better for all.