In politics, 1 + 1 is not 2; it can be more or less – Frimpong-Boateng explains

Former minister of environment, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has compared his field of expertise, medicine; to his secondary area of interest which is politics.

He holds that there exists a fundamental difference between the two fields where medicine demands exactitude yet politics does not always do same and allows room for ‘manipulation.’

Frimpong-Boateng was speaking in an interview with UTV on May 5 when he made statements relating to the need to use merit instead of connections in matters to do with development.

“In my field of medicine, 1 + 1 is 2, in politics; 1 + 1 is 2 + x. X is unknown, it can be 0, it can be anything, it can be -4, in which case 1 + 1 will be -2.

“In politics, you can’t balance the equation, it is not that straightforward, sometimes you can balance it only when x is 0. But when x takes on a number other than 0, be it negative or positive, you cannot be sure,” he explained.

Asked to give further explanation, he retorted: “Let the viewers, journalists and the public at large decide or judge for themselves if 1 + 1 is indeed 2.”

“In medicine, you have to be right and truthful at all times…but in politics, it is not so…,” he stressed.

The neurosurgeon has been in the news headlines after a 2021 report he authored was leaked into the media, which content contained damning allegations against top government and party officials.

There is a groundswell for a formal probe into the report even though the presidency says it was not a formal report.

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SARA