Tony Aidoo: I'm not important...What I say is what counts

How would you feel if whatever you say is analyzed through bias lenses even in spite of the fact that it is very difficult sometimes for one to establish prejudice because interpretations are based on one’s understanding?

Well, perhaps, the Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency, Dr Tony Aidoo, can best describe the feeling.

The NDC firebrand appears frustrated about the fact that people have premeditated minds with regards to whatever he says and are, therefore, often-times not interested in the substance of his messages.

“Listen Adakabre, I'm not interested in selling Tony Aidoo. Tony Aidoo is not important. Over the years, I have wished that it is the things that I say that are important and most of the things that I say, people listen for different reasons”.

“There are those who listen to me, solely for the purpose of getting some words that they can use for the scheme of kill the messenger and ignore the message. Then there are those who would listen to you and only hear the complementary things that you would say about your party or government and ignore the gist of your message. There is no point talking if people would not listen for the gist of the things that you have to say,” he told the host of "Me Man Nti" on Neat FM.

This has left many to wonder if his recent comments over the weekend where he called on the president to ‘Walk the Talk,’ has anything to do with the outspoken member of the ruling party’s decision to keep mum.

Commenting on a directive by President Mahama that pre-paid meters must be installed in all government bungalows, Tony Aidoo stated on Radio Gold that “issuing the directive is one thing, enforcing the directive is another thing. Does the government have the capacity to enforce this directive to the expected effect? Most often, it doesn’t matter who is issuing the directive. Whether it’s from the presidency itself or from a governmental head, you find out that it is ignored with impunity… If you don’t have an effective monitoring unit it becomes difficult”.

“What we have over the years has been institutional biases because of the lackadaisical nature by which public workers behave…I would urge the president to walk the talk and ensure that the directive is followed to the latter”, he said.