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Opinions of Tuesday, 15 February 2005

Columnist: Okyem Duku

The Shape Of Things To Come

And so parliament has confirmed that Dr.Richard Anane can continue as a minister. It would have been very interesting to know if the parliamentary committee dealing with his case made this decision on the merits and demerits of Dr. Anane?s case or were pressurised by external forces to ratify his nomination. Whichever case it is, I believe that the parliament by this decision has effectively waived any right they have to talk about morality or discipline in Ghana.

The old saying goes: when a fish starts to rot, it starts from the head. If the people at the top would not discipline themselves, how do they hope to discipline others? Throughout this ?Ananegate?, A lot of people seemed to have enormous sympathy for this man who should have known better and conducted himself in a way befitting his status as a minister of state and a family man; the typical Ghanaian attitude of let him alone, Maybe it is because the resultant child is ?buroni ba? but this is a very serious indiscretion from a minister of state who is a learned man who was out there to argue for his country against the very thing he was involved in. I am wondering when Ghanaians would learn to put rationality before emotions.

Some people even cited our culture as a reason why he is not guilty! Well if we had such great culture, what then would be the point of saddling ourselves with this farcical democracy in which a privileged few think the right to hold public offices is their birthright, instead of allowing Nananom to rule. (In any case people?s lives were better under Nananom even in the primitive setting than it is in our modern days).

The politicians by ratifying Dr. Anane?s nomination are also telling Ghanaian voters to get stuffed! And that they do what they want to do when they want and no-one can question them. The late Magician/ Conman Kye-Adee once said: there will always be ignorant (foolish) people and they will always be taken advantage of! Politicians take all Ghanaians for granted! If this had happened in any developed country, Dr. Anane would have quietly withdrawn his nomination to save himself and his family from all this hubbub, but he is behaving as if the post of a minister is a matter of life and death. It also is as if Dr. Anane is the only person qualified for that position. In their first term in power, the vice president made a lot of noise about discipline, and even inaugurated a campaign to fight indiscipline but now I am at loss the kind of discipline he was talking about.

Another strange thing is that whilst all this was going on, all the big preachers in Ghana who for a years have praying for a God sent and God led government who all jubilated mightily when NPP was elected to power were there but I didn?t hear even one of them raise a voice to say that Mr. President, this thing is wrong and must be encouraged, please withdraw Dr. Anane?s nomination. This shows the level of hypocrisy in high places in Ghana. It is true that everyone makes mistakes, but some mistakes if not rebuked, send wrong signals!

We always talk about development in Ghana but forget that development goes hand-in-hand with discipline! A lot of people are wont to compare Ghana to Malaysia that at independence we had the same sort of economy but now they are way ahead of us; but we forget that they are a disciplined people, if a Malaysian minister did what Dr. Anane did, he would be fired straightaway and besides the Prime Minister there clocks in when he goes to the office.

The children produced as a result of the kind of behaviour the honourable member of parliament got involved in are the kind who always grow up to resent society because they more often than not do not the right family life which shape them psychologically to become balanced adults, they are likely to filled with bitterness. Imagine if have many of these in your society, what would happen. May God come down and bless sick Ghana.

Okyem Duku

And so parliament has confirmed that Dr.Richard Anane can continue as a minister. It would have been very interesting to know if the parliamentary committee dealing with his case made this decision on the merits and demerits of Dr. Anane?s case or were pressurised by external forces to ratify his nomination. Whichever case it is, I believe that the parliament by this decision has effectively waived any right they have to talk about morality or discipline in Ghana.

The old saying goes: when a fish starts to rot, it starts from the head. If the people at the top would not discipline themselves, how do they hope to discipline others? Throughout this ?Ananegate?, A lot of people seemed to have enormous sympathy for this man who should have known better and conducted himself in a way befitting his status as a minister of state and a family man; the typical Ghanaian attitude of let him alone, Maybe it is because the resultant child is ?buroni ba? but this is a very serious indiscretion from a minister of state who is a learned man who was out there to argue for his country against the very thing he was involved in. I am wondering when Ghanaians would learn to put rationality before emotions.

Some people even cited our culture as a reason why he is not guilty! Well if we had such great culture, what then would be the point of saddling ourselves with this farcical democracy in which a privileged few think the right to hold public offices is their birthright, instead of allowing Nananom to rule. (In any case people?s lives were better under Nananom even in the primitive setting than it is in our modern days).

The politicians by ratifying Dr. Anane?s nomination are also telling Ghanaian voters to get stuffed! And that they do what they want to do when they want and no-one can question them. The late Magician/ Conman Kye-Adee once said: there will always be ignorant (foolish) people and they will always be taken advantage of! Politicians take all Ghanaians for granted! If this had happened in any developed country, Dr. Anane would have quietly withdrawn his nomination to save himself and his family from all this hubbub, but he is behaving as if the post of a minister is a matter of life and death. It also is as if Dr. Anane is the only person qualified for that position. In their first term in power, the vice president made a lot of noise about discipline, and even inaugurated a campaign to fight indiscipline but now I am at loss the kind of discipline he was talking about.

Another strange thing is that whilst all this was going on, all the big preachers in Ghana who for a years have praying for a God sent and God led government who all jubilated mightily when NPP was elected to power were there but I didn?t hear even one of them raise a voice to say that Mr. President, this thing is wrong and must be encouraged, please withdraw Dr. Anane?s nomination. This shows the level of hypocrisy in high places in Ghana. It is true that everyone makes mistakes, but some mistakes if not rebuked, send wrong signals!

We always talk about development in Ghana but forget that development goes hand-in-hand with discipline! A lot of people are wont to compare Ghana to Malaysia that at independence we had the same sort of economy but now they are way ahead of us; but we forget that they are a disciplined people, if a Malaysian minister did what Dr. Anane did, he would be fired straightaway and besides the Prime Minister there clocks in when he goes to the office.

The children produced as a result of the kind of behaviour the honourable member of parliament got involved in are the kind who always grow up to resent society because they more often than not do not the right family life which shape them psychologically to become balanced adults, they are likely to filled with bitterness. Imagine if have many of these in your society, what would happen. May God come down and bless sick Ghana.


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