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01.08.2015 Feature Article

They Know They Are Ignorant...And Arrogant, Too!

They Know They Are Ignorant...And Arrogant, Too!
01.08.2015 LISTEN

The decision by the Speaker of Parliament to compell Prof. Alexander Nii Otto Dodoo to appear before the House's Privileges Committee was bad enough. But the decision by the Speaker to compell Prof. Dodoo to appear before House members a second time smacked of schoolyard bullying and outright intimidation (See "Speaker Vetoes MPs 'Charge' At Prof. Dodoo" Graphic.com.gh / Ghanaweb.com 7/17/15). This is not the sort of governance many Ghanaians fought for, and quite a remarkable number among us paid with their lives. It may be the functional equivalent of the judiciary or the Supreme Court but, even as many an expert political scientist and/or lawyer has bitterly lamented time and again, Parliament has become a virtual laughing stock.

The august House and its membership have reverted to the politically benighted days of our First Republic, when a dictatorial Prime Minister, later President, Kwame Nkrumah sat in his office at the Independence Square, and sometimes at the capriciously commandeered Flagstaff House, and single-handedly, as well as single-mindedly, drafted decrees that were almost immediately rubber-stamped by an abjectly servile parliament. Indeed, before his retirement and glorious passing (for he had chalked 80 years or more), former House Speaker Peter Ala Adjetey warned Ghanaians that unless the country's 1992 Republican Constitution was thoroughly reviewed and revised, and the checks and balances among the three branches of government brought in line with the civilized standards of democratic governance, Ghana was doomed to developmental stasis.

Under the present circumstances, whereby the President makes all the most important decisions, as well as set the agenda for Parliament, the latter has virtually become a white elephant in both proverbial and practical terms. And this is why the members of the House have ignobly constituted themselves into a posse/cabal of schoolyard bullies arbitrarily and gratuitously resorting the routine intimidation of the most responsible and distinguished citizens the country ever produced, anytime our National Assembly representatives get aptly called out on their palpably irresponsible streak of leadership.

If I were Prof. Dodoo, a bona fide Ghanaian citizen of mixed Akwamu and Ga stock, or genetic make-up, there may be other ethnic affiliations, of course, I would have opted for two responsive approaches to this unconscionable bullying by our taxpayer-supported parliamentarians, especially once I had already appeared before the full-House and offered my "unconditional and unqualified apologies," only to be rudely and summarily rounded up, once again, Gestapo-style and thoroughly humiliated before the entire nation as well.

And just what was his crime, but the diligent impatience of a cutting-edge medical scientist hell-bent on protecting the citizens of our beloved nation. First, I would have flatly refused to appear before the largely reprobate membership of the House and dared them to have me convicted and imprisoned. And then I would have promptly arranged with the World Health Organization (WHO) to have me transferred to a country or region where I could more peaceably and respectably pursue my profession or trade. Don't get me wrong, I have written and published at least one article in which I faulted both Parliament and Prof. Dodoo for approaching an otherwise meaningful process the wrong way. This is the country in which I was born and raised and schooled in one of its best science-oriented high schools at the time.

Let me tell these "Honorable Bullies" something instructive here. Part of the reason why I never became a scientist was because our near-totally barren scientific landscape did not inspire much excitement and confidence in the possibility of me becoming a globally-renowned scientist. Like most children and young adults presented with the prized institutional privilege and opportunities offered by Okwawu-Nkwatia's St. Peter's Secondary School, I wanted to be a research scientist like Dr. Dodoo, although my academic bent and flair strongly oriented me towards the liberal arts and the humanities.

The reasons are not a far-fetched. My now-late father, a class of 1954 GSTS-trained Cert.-A technical teacher, or engineer, had switched to the performing arts and done remarkably well by the general standards of the time. But my one abiding question regarded why, other than medical doctors or physicians, by and large, Ghanaian scientists were not demonstrating themselves to be formidable forces to reckon with on the global market. In other words, my unreserved contention here is that creative and enviably productive scientists like Dr. Dodoo ought to be seriously courted and respected, rather than being bullied and disrespected for doing precisely what they ought to be doing in order to inspire interest and confidence in our young and talented ones.

Indeed, when I initially criticized Prof. Dodoo for his impatience and lack of recognition for well-documented history of the racist application of preventive medicine in Tropical Africa, I also noted that Parliament needed to responsibly engage Prof. Dodoo rather than attempt to humiliate the man. I strongly and sincerely believe that an apology to the Legon pharmacological scientist is perfectly in order. The most constructive route to making themselves relevant to our national development agenda, is for Parliament to fight for the assertion of its functional independence by having all cabinet operatives appointed from outside the House. They should also fight for a progressive and democratic balance of power, and not behave like the little boy who, when severely spanked by his father for misbehaving, decided to take his anger out on the family dog.

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Garden City, New York
June 17, 2015
E-mail: [email protected]

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