Numeracy Dissonance, The Umpire’s Bias

Ato Forson

The Minority Leader has a problem. Not only does he require a linguistics doctor to deal with language deficiency, his pedagogy in numeracy is also problematic.

How can he say that only a third of the population works in Ghana when he knows that our children from 15 years and below are not eligible to work, for if they do they would be involved in child labour?

Under Mahama from 2013 to 2016, he was a deputy minister of Finance assisting Seth Terkper to superintend over the country’s purse. Now we understand why they failed miserably.

The low side of the presentation of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) was not the Big Fat Lie by Ato Forson but the highly partisan attitude of the Speaker, Alban Bagbin. The man who beats his chest always as Number Three, does not operate the House as a moderator or referee, but in all these instances he plays on the side of the Minority.

Last Tuesday, when his partisan handling of the affairs of the House, was coming to a head to expose his bias, Bagbin then reminded the MPs that the SONA was a formal meeting of Parliament and warned them not to push him to apply the Standing Orders.

These were the low side of a very important national engagement like the SONA, but the NDC deliberately tried to drum out the good news of the NPP government in the cacophony of ugly noises by the Minority.

Some people have described the heckling that characterised the SONA has been said to be in tune with parliamentary democracy, but of late this exercise that is meant to add a bit of fun to this business has always been abused by the Minority.

It is regrettable that the person the NDC expects to lead its agenda on the economy in Parliament has a big knowledge deficit with figures and indeed the economy.

The man touted to hold a PhD in Finance or the Economy, for which reason the veritable Haruna Iddrisu was removed last year, might not have debated his mates in secondary school.

The gap between Ato Forson and Haruna Iddrisu is too noticeable for comfort even among die-hard NDC supporters.

Look at the way he tackled unemployment in the country. How can anybody with skills in numeracy simply conclude that two out of every three Ghanaians are unemployed?

We know Ato Forson is a professional whose daily endeavours must be guided by the ethics of his calling. However, he has allowed partisan coloration to cloud his sense of professionalism.

And he got carried away by the NDC colours rather than the national flag to the extent that he would ignore wise counsel from his colleague, Afenyo-Markin to just second his motion for adjournment and leave the debate for the appropriate time.

Besides the initial attempt to disrupt the SONA by the NDC Minority and the apparent bias of the Speaker, multiparty democracy showcased its beauty in Parliament last Tuesday.

After the attempt to heckle failed during his presentation, President Akufo-Addo had the time to exchange pleasantries with his political opponents. When the cameras are focused on our politicians in Parliament and other public gatherings, both sides of the political divide want to show “machismo” traits. But at the end of the day, all MPs and invited guests want to extend pleasantries to the President and receive his warm handshakes.

 

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