Ministers Must Go To School - Kwesi Pratt

As an oil crisis hovers over the nation with motorists in different parts of the country complaining about their inability to get fuel to refill their tanks, the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has accused ministers of the Mills-led administration of rather complicating the problem with their communication disabilities.

Since the crisis started over the past few weeks, according to him, Ministers commenting on the issue have rather created problems for themselves, government and the nation by making completely unnecessary announcements which has not benefited anybody in any way. Speaking on an Accra based radio station, Mr. Pratt maintained that "ministers must k now when to speak, how to speak and what to say" at any material moment.

Apparently charged by the clashes of different explanations by the Ministers on the oil crisis, the Insight Managing Editor said despite the entire massive public relations outfits at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Volta River Authority (VRA) as well as the Energy Ministry "everyday, every minute Ministers are clashing with themselves and causing the mess.

Mr. Pratt said in the course of the week, the Deputy Minister of Energy's reaction to the issue on radio was completely disjointed with the reality on the ground, adding that communication in government is becoming a major problem and therefore it is time the government devised effective means of combating this emerging problem. According to him, Ministers in the Mills-led administration must be sent back to school to be taught what to do and what to say at a particular moment. "How do Ministers communicate, when do Ministers communicate; there must be some effort to do that.

There is nothing wrong to bring the Ministers back to the classroom, getting people to teach them, leading them on what to do. The fact that you are a minister does not mean you are an excellent communicator, he charged. He said in some countries Ministers are taken back to the classroom twice year to learn what is necessary for them to work effectively, saying that this should be emulated by the government here.