She Is An MP Don’t Deride Her

Hon Mercy Adu Gyamfi

She made her political debut when she dared to contest the parliamentary primary of her party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), a hurdle she surmounted and progressed to the next stage.

Hon Mercy Adu Gyamfi, aka Ama Sey was faced with a Herculean task of feuding the sitting Akwatia MP Hon Baba Jamal of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), whose material resources and political clout, it appeared, she could not withstand.

Her occupation, hairdressing, a source of livelihood with which she has managed her life all along and knowledge which she imparted to others to fend for themselves was sadly ridiculed by her opponents. As a hairdresser they thought she has no business being in Parliament, a place reserved for only the academically smart.

As fate would have it, she beat her opponent in a political contest in which he thought he was going to win. The people of Akwatia prefer a hairdresser to represent them in Parliament to a lawyer or any other elitist professional.

The lady under review is not the first to go to Parliament handicapped by an inability to speak the English language as fluently as others in the august legislature.

As an entrepreneur, she is intelligent and knows how to invest her money in a business and derive returns, something she could not have been able to do were she stupid.

It is instructive that the Constitution has not debarred her and others of her level of academic standing from being voted for as Members of Parliament or voting themselves.

In the past few weeks shortly after the people of her constituency decided that she should represent them in Parliament, we have observed rather worryingly the tendency to ridicule her with a veneer of finesse.

Such derision is not only appalling but an insult to the drafters of our constitution. These exalted personalities knew what they were doing and decided that the likes of the hairdresser should not be stopped from being MPs or even aspiring to other high offices of state.

We think that she should rather be encouraged to maintain her course.

She too has a role to play in Parliament, her inability to rattle the English Language as fast as others, notwithstanding.

She speaks the language rather slowly picking her words so she does not commit grammatical errors. So far she has done well given her level of education.

She has promised to proceed beyond her current level and we are encouraged by the fact that she is learning and very fast, her source of confidence.

She campaigned to her people in the local language and got them to her side.

A few days ago she was hosted by a radio station and from the way the host managed her we could not subdue the temptation to impute derision.

Let us respect each other and avoid such unnecessary ridiculing of others who were not so lucky to access tertiary education and to therefore acquire chains of educational qualification.

We recall the contributions of Kwame Nkrumah's men and women who had little formal education and were in the category of the lady whose plight triggered this commentary but who carved names for themselves in the political history of Ghana. Indeed they were front-liners whose names are now part of the political chronicles of Ghana.