A FLATULENCE OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY- DONT TOUCH YOUR NOSE!

Aside informing us that we are not all equal, the “TWEEAA” video has some lessons for us. If we will take time to look at the video again, it will lay bare right before us the problem with the mentality of the Ghanaian people…many Ghanaians--their propensity to give loud applause to “big men” even when “the men in power” are saying straight nonsense, sorry.

A good number of Ghanaians lack the tactful discipline of being able to tell “big men” the truth. In writing this, I believe it is inaccurate to use the truncated “TWEEAAA” video to pass a judgment on the wisdom or otherwise in Honourable Gabriel Barima's speech. But hear this: “Me, I have been given the platform to talk, wo y'an mawo platform, kasa no a woka no obiaa ntie. Me medie na yetie….” And the shocking thing happened—the audience frantically applauded this gibberish reminiscent of the arrogance of power! So PERHAPS out of disappointment in his colleagues for clapping, a young man in the crowd shouted “tweaaaaa”, and as expected, the DCE's choleric tap started overflowing, the rest is on youtube. But history has it that the same DCE was rejected twice before his eventual endorsement on the third occasion…tweeaaa!

This is not a digression-- on the death of Komla Dumor, an early January facebook picture of him and a friend posing with a big tray of what looks like grilled meat went viral on social media with the comments that came with the picture. Of the comments, you could easily pick the Ghanaian comments: “God bless you…enjoy!”, Big men levels, “you are the greatest in journalism; KD, I envy u papa”… etc. But when he died an arrow was drawn pointing to a particular comment from a white lady cautioning Komla and his friend that the meat is unsafe and that a heart attack was waiting to happen. Many Ghanaians may have thought so, but felt it may hurt if they say it and instead settled for their traditional sycophancy. You must understand that this is a problem far beyond a viral video or a dead man's facebook picture. I had the opportunity of joining a team last July to spend time with Dr K.B Asante, the seasoned diplomat and former Minister under Kwame Nkrumah. He journeyed with us into his psychology as an appointee of NKRUMAH how he had to circumstantially “quarantine” critical news away from the “African Showboy”… how disagreements were covert…how some difficult decisions had to be taken at the Ministerial level on the President's blind-side... how you had to massage egos on daily basis…etc etc… I believe long after Dr Asante's ministerial service in 1966, this still persists in Ghana, if the Ministers under Former Presidents Rawlings, Kufuor and the late Mills will be truthful. I know many a minister agreed with Martin Alamisi Amidu, the former A-G, you get what I mean? But they could not have declared war on Woyome like Amidu did and his consequent resignation! May be there is the principle of Collective Responsibility, just may be? Remember, I am lay so it remains my ignorant opinion that our lot will be made better if we have people who are not sycophants, individuals who can look the Assemblyman/woman, DCE, MP, Minister, and President straight in the eye and in all humility inform them on the naked reality. But I beg, when you can't tell it to them, for whatever reason, don't hide in the crowd and say “TWEEAAA”, because you may have to answer whether you are their co-equal or not. If you are not lucky, your own wont just be a viral video, you may disappear at the President's pleasure! Tweeaaa!!!