By Abdul Razak Bawa
I will like to begin this article from the end. I wish to sincerely apologize to workers of the ministry of Agriculture;I have had the mistaken believe that his ‘misleading’ public comments be attributed to the staff of the ministry. Evidently, it is coming from his better half. Now that is an irreparable problem on our hands.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, needs no introduction, he is a man who is always wearing arrogance, he insults our collective conscience, calling us fools, and he wants us to behave like a kid, who when he beats or scolds, he should not to cry.
Ghana since 2017, has become a big theatre where ridiculous actions and events take place at a pulsating pace. And keeping up with the tempo of the outlandish dramas that have grotesquely assailed our sensibilities, has not been easy.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie, has a flair indulging in self destruction. He has developed a sense of pride, which has even taken away the smile from his face. He has a penchant for lying and he does it so well that it surprises even ardent supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
A recent documentary by Multimedia, owners of Joy FM, about the rising food prices in the country , with particular interest in beans, awoken the minister, who not too long ago, told the whole country that a bunch of plantain was selling at GH¢4.
Among the mandate of the media is to reveal to inform, so that duty bearers, who might not be aware of the situation, will rise to the occasion and solve the problem, but often than not politicians see the media as the enemy, when they are just performing the duty.
The minister, who is lacing his boots to contest the flagbeareship of his party; the New Patriotic Party, thought that the radio station, was out to get him and so in response to the in-depth journalistic work, said “My wife also goes to the market so I know food is cheap. If she tells me there is no food then I’m in trouble”.
Dr. Akoto Afriyie, who is expected to answer the rising food prices based on fact and data, now relies on his better half.
It is just not enough to put up such defence, hiding behind the wife. There must be incontrovertible evidence to prove it; otherwise, the minister would be deemed to be playing a fast one, in the circumstance, for reasons best known to him.
It is trite to say that the minister might have resorted to this fatal gambit in order to save face and his job, if not why bring your wife in a matter that is at the core of our survival.
Remove food from poverty, the rest will be easy to manage. This saying is not original to me, but it goes to emphasise the importance attached to food security. That is why I find it difficult that the minister, will seek to trivialize the issue, using his wife as his reference.
Food is life, and as the saying goes, man must eat to live, people spend more on food than any other thing, it is among the basic necessity of lives, at least according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
The minister is not only good at conjuring figures and misleading the good people of this country, he is also a magician. Not too long ago, he was quoted in the media of saying; from the air he could see bumper harvest.
A lot of money has been allocated to the ministry for the Planting for food and Jobs programme, nothing by way of improve yields has been seen, except relying on seasonal crops to make claims that the programme is doing well.,
Ghanaians are reasonably anguished, the joke is no longer funny and they are aware that, more than ever, they are being taken for granted by a minister, who is supposed to meet one of their basic needs.
This is very depressing. Dr. Akoto Owusu Afriyie, should feel very embarrassed that the information regarding how well we are doing in terms of food production, his primary source is his wife. With all due respect, I doubt if the minister’s wife goes to the market. Are we to believe that, he has no house help or that he has no children who are of age and he has to subject his wife to this public ridicule?
Email: [email protected]
