Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 07 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticised the upsurge in the use of foul language by some members of the Mills administration.
It wondered why senior government officials and functionaries of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) had developed a penchant for insulting political opponents and people they disagreed with.
A statement issued and signed by Communications Director of the party said it had observed that the NDC government had adopted a culture of insults and indecent language in public discourse, describing this culture as primitive and completely unhelpful.
Deputy Minister of Health Rojo Mettle-Nunoo is reported to have described the action of striking nurses and midwives at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi as a “complete nonsense” since according to him “they have not even written their residential exams to become nurses and midwives, they are interns so if they think their allowance is not enough, they should fight for that instead.”
“…It is different if you are working with someone and he decides to top up your allowance…It is nonsense for them to go to the Labour Commission because they are not (officially) employed and they do not have appointment letters,” he added.
The NPP said it found some of the remarks from government functionaries as reprehensible because “it pollutes the environment for national debate and hurts the country’s image internationally.”
It would be recalled that Dr. Tony Aidoo, director of research and monitoring at the Office of the President, recently described Christians who spoke in tongues as “mad people.” Speaking in tongues is a spiritual (Christian) way of communicating with God. It is referred to by scholars as glossolalia.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mettle-Nunoo has since said he was not aware that his comments were live on the airwaves of the Kumasi-based radio station.
“The phone dropped, I thought the line had cut so I was talking to some people in my office and I think I must have been heard on air. I was not in the specific context of the interview talking to them in that kind of language. I was extremely frustrated,” he told Citi FM yesterday.
The NPP wants government to spell out their strategies for improving the lives of Ghanaians in order to engage them on those strategies and offer alternatives since it believes that is the least political leadership can do for the country.
It has thus asked government to focus on how to solve the several challenges facing the country instead of engaging in trivialities because the livelihoods of ordinary people were being destroyed by the unavailability of basic amenities including LP Gas whilst parents are anxious about the re-opening of school for SHS students.
“There is discontent on the labour front. Businesses (of both formal and informal sectors) are suffering because purchasing power and consumption have dropped. The list is endless,” the NPP said.
With all these problems at stake, the statement said, “What Ghanaians are expecting from government are clear policies and measures to address the rising cost of living and worsening living conditions in the country.”
Instead, it said, the NDC misled itself when it imagined that by insulting its political opponents, the electorate would think better of them and think less of those political opponents. It added that “Ghana needs contest of ideas between government and those who seek to govern; not insults.”
The party’s Communications Director stated that they would not be dragged into this unproductive culture of insults but would also not relent in their efforts to keep government on its toes, stating “we will continue to criticise government when necessary and to appeal to Ghanaians for the opportunity to govern and improve our previous and better performance (compared to what is happening now).”
They have thus asked members of the Mills administration to govern with a high sense of decorum and not insults.