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Please tame the Shrew

Mon, 18 Jan 2016 Source: Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh

She is almost there. She was gradually becoming an irritant. Now she irritates repeatedly. Almost anything that comes from her mouth is impetuous and insulting to people with integrity.

She has attacked the NPP hierarchy whose kind of integrity she and her appointer can only dream of. And she has descended on God’s people of the Christian Council. But it’s not her fault.

It’s not her making. It’s the mistake of Egya Atta and his successor appointer who both thought governance is about appointing people whose knowledge base is hurling insults rather than working to achieve something.

If she cares to read or hear someone talk about what I have here, she should know that empanelling to make a commission decision is not written in the electoral law. Yet her outfit chose to do that pretending to usefully respond to the yearning of my compatriots for a fresh credible register of qualified voters.

Of course, it is acceptable that the commission listens and looks beyond its imperfect outfit to improve its services. That is why a body like IPAC, which she treats with disdain, exists.

I don’t know what she thought of herself when sitting on an elitist radio station, speaking an elitist English language she still managed to believe there is something wrong with elitism.

To say the many illiterates holding taxi and tr?tr? driving licences belong to an elitist group is to confound the meaning of elitism.

For her information, the 2010 census reports 26.2% and 38.4% male and female, respectively, of household heads without any schooling.

The census defines literacy as ‘the ability to read and write a simple statement with understanding in any language.’ Many would be excluded from understanding what she said on the radio in the English language. The census report continues with ‘74.1% of persons eleven years and older are literate; 25.9% are not literate.’

Whatever NFED may have to add, I can say confidently that a minimum of a quarter of my compatriots couldn’t have heard or understood her elitist language.

She believes so much in herself (I wouldn’t equate that with self-esteem) and is full of herself. I would love to hear her define elitism. Like the afunumup?nk?(donkey) we read about in our KanMe Hwe textbook, she is throwing her legs all over the place in glee because she has been unjustifiable raised to a pedestal beyond her. If those who can do not talk to her to mend her ways by soberly accepting modesty, she could plunge this motherland into serious election crisis with her ‘I know everything’ attitude. ‘She who knows not and knows not she knows not …’ could be dangerous. Let’s take a clue from that.

. Being an electoral commissioner is not simply about being legal. It is far more about moral integrity that makes you accord respect and be prepared to learn. Ghana Reinsurance Company has taken its website down so I couldn’t conduct the research I would have liked to.

If indeed she was right, she should have eventually resigned six months into the EC position for a reason. Perhaps she had less work to do over that period since the EC salary has been same as she’s taking now. People may not want to litigate that but they certainly will deal with you in the court of moral opinion.

Within the law is not interchangeable with morally above board. They are two separate election-required conditions of equal weight. They are both required for credible election refereeing. Over-voting may be ridiculously legal but morally repugnant. So let that be drummed into the heads of all the election referees.

Someone please tame the shrew before she shreds the motherland into shreds. She seems to have reached a point of men tie obiaa.

In times gone by, the Christian Council would have been asked to help. She has already trashed the body.

But I know there is a peace council that usually sides with her group. That group might want to sit up and tame her. If they don’t as they asked some people to go to court, they should understand she can easily set the motherland in flames. If they should support her by action or inaction, they should know they would be part of a perishing motherland.

Nothing suggests the NMC in its new role of content control freak, instead of content generation protector, has the guts to shut her public provocative statements in the media up. The ship of state is wobbling as institutions are weakened and disenabled.

Let the ‘all is well’ and ‘safeguard our peace’ by allowing congresspeople to steal what belongs to all of us continue.

Let the chop chop tin-pot congresswomen dictators continue to have their way. And then dream on that that is peace.

Columnist: Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh