Minority’s Body Language During State of the Nation Address Was Disrespectful - IMANI

The Executive Director of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, has lashed out at the Minority Caucus in Parliament for their body gestures and posture during and after the reading of the State of the Nation’s Address by President Mills on Thursday, February 17th. Mr. Cudjoe reckons that it was total disrespect in the highest order on the part of the Minority to fail to rise and pay respect to President Mills after he had done with his address.

Contributing to a panel discussion on TV3 after the President’s address, the Executive Director of the policy think-tank posited that President Mills is the father of the nation and therefore deserves some respect no matter how divisive the Minority considers his address to be.

He described as unfortunate the display of sheets of papers with the inscription “all die be die”, by the Minority, in light of the fact that the statement had been roundly condemned by well-meaning Ghanaians.

To him, the display of the “all-die-be-die” sheets of paper clearly betrays the true roots of the NPP.

“The minority…body language was very appalling because if for nothing at all, he is the father of this nation and I think he deserved that respect. Even if they think this is the worst address they’ve heard, they also came prepared with a divisive agenda, they had “all die be die” printed on sheets even when the president was speaking…The all die be die comment betrayed the true roots of the NPP, they have a very rich libertarian tradition and obviously that statement should be condemned rather than encouraged,” he said.

He emphasized that it was high time politicians focus on important issues rather than things that tend to polarize the nation, pointing out that the MPs would have given a laud appraisal if the president had spoken on MPs common fund but care less about the rule of law and lawlessness.

Whiles he believes the minority’s body language during the address will not divert public attention from the substance of the issues raised by the President, he also asserted that there are some parliamentarians in both the NPP and the NDC who do not understand their being in the House.