The year 2011 is in its death throes, leaving the political scene fraught with oddities. The Information Minister, John Tia Akologo, is one such oddity, although no match for the Woyomegate debacle.
He sought to please his boss, the President, by spewing a propaganda piece with far-reaching effects on the already unenviable visage of the government.
According to him, 2011, which was labelled a year of action by President John Evans Atta Mills, was indeed one, full of positive strides by government, contrary to the impression of most Ghanaians. If Ghanaians could weather this piece of absurdity, not so when he virtually insulted most of them when he said those of them who claim to have nothing in their pockets are either sleeping or pretending to be doing so.
His position stands apart from Vice President John Dramani Mahama�s when the Number Two disowned his own promise during the pre-2008 campaign season that when their party came to power, money would be put in every pocket. Perhaps, he should have explained the fact that the government appointees and NDC executives would see a remarkable change in their lifestyles, regardless of the situation of citizens. He has since refused to stand by this campaign season rhetoric. Perhaps, like Baba Jamal said of the promise to the Andanis in Dagbon that the killers are known and would be jailed when the NDC came to power, �it was a joke, a campaign platform talk, not a serious utterance.�
The Information Minister has, by and large, stayed out of the theatricals of his subordinates in the Propaganda Ministry but as Election 2012 draws near, he appears to be learning the ropes of political deceit the ilk of Baba Jamal and Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa have perfected within their brief stay in political office.
Had such piece of mendacity emanated from the mouth of those who charged information officers to lie about government�s achievement, we might not have bothered to consider it worthy of a commentary.
The unusualness of the Minister�s remarks adds to the oddities of the dying year, one in which we are being goaded to pretend has been well even as the efforts to address the challenges of the times have been fraught with pains and stress unrivalled in the country�s history.
Perhaps, we do not have to stress ourselves out about the false satisfaction being felt by government that after all, Ghanaians are better off under a system which is almost economically strangling them.
If the Information Minister is practising sarcasm, he might have to return to his study to refine it so that he does not sound awful when he paints an all-is-well picture of the country. With limitless pecks of office available to the Mills appointees, they would be hard-pushed not to paint such a glossy picture of the regrettable realities of the Ghanaian situation even if they know that their remarks are all but political deceit.
With the minister sandwiched by his subordinates who are wont to disown nauseating remarks when these backfire, describing them as jokes and political platform utterances, he too should be considered as only playing pranks as a way of managing the all-pervading stress in the country.
President Mills is definitely not being fed with the right temperature reading of the country by his aides. It might be too late for him when the reality dawns on him about the pains Ghanaians are going through. Do most Ghanaians have money to meet the challenges of early 2012 when the kids return to school? Good morning, John Tia Akologo.
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