By Saikujohn Barrie
As the major political parties gear up to elect their standard-bearers for the 2028 elections, it is apparent that some supporters of the various intending candidates are busy unleashing terror and social media violence by insulting and abusing the parents—particularly engaging in “mamy cuss”—of their opponents.
What is more disheartening, and shattering is that those insulting and those insulted belong to the same political parties.
They are supposedly meant to protect and respect one another as people of the same political fraternity.
It is truly indecent and barbaric for some adults to sit in the closets of their environments, hurling and raining motherly invectives against other intending candidates through social media.
Imagine someone listening to an audio in which his or her mother—in some cases, a mother who has died—is being insulted simply because he or she has expressed an aspiration to lead a political party.
Unfortunately, some of the politicians on whose behalf these individuals attack other candidates most likely do not listen to such audios, while others do listen and are aware of every bad word emitted from the mouths of their supporters.
To be honest, this pattern and attitude of going on social media to target and insult politicians, especially their parents, is wrong and unacceptable.
Such conduct does not belong in a decent society.
Additionally, the fabric of our societies and communities is nurtured and manured on respect for elders and the preservation of the dignity of our parents.
So, seeing some loose individuals publicly insulting the parents—especially the mothers—of others is abhorrent and detestable, to say the least.
This is done purely to inflict psychological harm and disorient political opponents in the race for the same position.
Why should our country condescend into such abysmal conduct?
Why should a mum who died long ago be insulted for something she had no idea about?
I am still wondering: where did the idea of insulting the mothers of political opponents come from, and what benefit can the candidate on whose behalf these insults are made possibly gain?
It is truly painful for someone to receive such motherly invectives aimed at fellow politicians.
This motherly invective and vituperation introduced into our body politics needs to be killed and buried.
It does not represent the behaviour and conduct of decency.
No one enters politics or aspires for the highest office in the country so that his or her mother or parents are insulted, disgraced, and disrespected.
Such conduct in our politics is preposterous and outrageous.
Thus, all politicians wanting to be standard-bearers of our political parties should always make public statements advising their supporters to desist from attacking the mothers and personalities of their opponents.
To be a decent politician, one has to distance himself or herself from social media violence—such as using the media to intimidate opponents through motherly invectives—and must always make publicly clear that neither physical nor psychological violence is the answer.
Intending flag-bearer candidates should urge their supporters to propagate their good records, skills, competence, experience, education, and abilities to positively effect change in the country through development—not by insulting the mothers of their opponents.
I am quite sure that nurturing such persons will always boomerang.
It will be like a snowball that comes back to hit the beneficiary, especially when that candidate happens to win the election.
It will be like someone who raises or plays with a mad dog, or plays with a snake; most often, the owner will be the victim of that dog or snake.
Likewise, in politics, if a politician nurtures or encourages someone to throw invectives against his or her opponents and wins through that, they will fall apart as soon as he succeeds.
The supporter may want to dictate what the politician should or should not do, and if he refuses, there will be a problem between them.
This is why those who are aspiring for the highest office in our land must tread carefully.
It is immorally immoral for someone to insult the mothers and parents of your opponents, yet you ignore or pretend not to hear the insults on your opponent.
I am not in any shape or form indicating that a candidate should pander to some of the unrealistic requests of their opponents—for instance, when they want to dictate that their opponents come to public and own up to some unruly supporters without properly verifying that such supporters are genuine and not planted to tarnish the character of a certain candidate.
There are cases where some politicians would engage in a dirty smear campaign against their opponents using immoral and dirty means.
In my view, the propensity and proclivity of deploying social media thugs to unleash motherly invectives on each other, or on politicians who express a desire to run for the highest office of the country, will scare many decent people—especially women—from entering the race for the presidency or other high political positions in the country.
I suggest that the leaderships of the political parties take punitive, stringent, and harsh measures against any candidate who utilises social media thugs to hurl motherly invectives at others during the primaries and national elections.
It is on this pillar that I reiterate: maternal invectives should not be part of the campaign strategies for the primaries and general elections in 2028.
The time has come for all stakeholders in our democracy—from party leaders and aspirants to the media and the electorate—to unite in condemning this corrosive practice. For the health of our nation and the dignity of our public discourse, we must collectively resolve to bury “mamy cuss” for good. Maternal invectives have no place in our politics.
I rest my case.
