<<Print>>

"Let Opare Ansah understand, and I will call him honourable because the people of Suhum voted for him, so I will respect the people of Suhum. I may not respect Opare Ansah and his views but I will respect the electorate who voted for him to become MP so I would call him honourable. Let me state. �And tell him that I speak categorically that irresponsible people like him (Hon. Opare Ansah) will not lead the President down an irresponsible path. "The fact that people like Opare Ansah have gone and sat down and are making this irresponsible statement does not mean that President Mills, having gotten the mandate of 23 to 24 million Ghanaians to build a better Ghana, should come and respond to this level of irresponsibility. �And am saying that with people like Osei Kyei Mensah and Opare Ansah in Parliament, we have a question to answer and President Mills will hear but will not pay attention to the bellicose, whimsical and capricious irresponsibility of Opare Ansah and his lots.� �And we are telling Opare Ansah and co that they better get ready, this their irresponsibility, their bellicosity is nonsense and I use the word nonsense again. Koku Anyidohu said he hates former President John Agyekum Kufuor and would not like to see his face because for him the man destroyed Ghana�. The �we� is without doubt, a reference to the Presidency and we find it highly worrying that President John Evans Atta Mills will sanction such an effusion, given that the position he holds demands a concentrated dose of diplomacy when communicating with people. It is saddening that the Director of Communications at the Presidency would descend to such depths, as his bosses sit down unconcerned about the implications of the nauseating arrogance. Koku did not end with the unprovoked aggression on former President Kufuor but turned his gun on his stable mate and senior, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, describing his PhD as a cheap one secured from a cheap university somewhere. We have learnt though that the man�s doctorate is an honorary one which he can wear anyway. This is to correct our reference to it as an academic one in the editorial of yesterday. Spio, he said, should go and sit in a recognized university and sweat for a PhD and not what he is flaunting about. �Spio my foot. Let him stand with me in a constituency and I would beat him.� Hm! If the foregone effusions do not reflect the Presidency of Prof John Evans Atta Mills, then we cannot fathom what else is. We may disagree with each other in the political setting in the country but political civility and indeed, our societal norms, require us to be mindful about the manner in which we talk. Linguists in our palaces, while speaking on behalf of chiefs, do so with a measure of respectability and some art. The same is expected of those who represent the Presidency, such as Communications Directors, if the high office is to maintain the reverence it deserves. Koku should not forget that Ghana as a country does not belong to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and so when an occasion demands that he speaks on behalf of his boss, he should do so with his head on his frame. When one ascends to the office Koku is in now, imbecility is one shortcoming which should not be noticed when communicating or responding to issues. Unfortunately, Koku appears to be unable to perform his presidential duties without displaying his real stuff- incivility and uncouthness, to the dismay of most Ghanaians. The challenge with Koku is how to detach himself from his Cassius Clay column in the Lens in which he hid behind a mask as a coward would and churned out ordinarily unprintable vitriolic about people he hates. No wonder the Metropolitan And Allied Bank management, when his cover was blown, showed him the exit. That he hates former President Kufuor to the extent of saying it on air like a possessed idiot is attributable to the fact that his father did not attain his life�s ambition of heading the Army as Chief of Army Staff when the NPP came to power. Had President Mills not already blown away his �asomdwee� title many months ago, we would have stated that Koku would rob him of the accolade.