On a recent live television talking-heads program, Alhaji Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, the Tamale-North’s National Democratic Congress’ Member of Parliament, was alleged to have produced a tweet from the account of Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia claiming that the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana had said at one of his legion public lectures, while in opposition, that in the event of an Akufo-Addo-led government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assuming the democratic reins of governance, the most visionary and progressive political party would not be taking any foreign loans in the name of Ghana. Mr. Suhuyini was reportedly silenced by the Editor-Publisher of the “New Crusading Guide,” when the accuser could not produce any authentic videoclip or evidence backing up his claim on a dare.
I, personally, did not think that the Tamale-North’s NDC-MP could back up his claim, for the simple reason that it is only simple-minded parliamentary opposition members like Mr. Suhuyini who could so facilely presume to insult the intelligence of the Oxbridge-educated Vice-President Bawumia, and the intelligence of the general Ghanaian public as well. Even so, whether, indeed, Dr. Bawumia had even, hypothetically, made such an unrealistically facile promise to any of his audiences would not in any way have vindicated any counter-challenge put forth by any of the key operatives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for the simple reason that in just under two-and-half years of the assumption of democratic governance, the New Patriotic Party has achieved far more than the Mills-Mahama tandem regimes ever achieved for the country in 8 years of gross and abject misrule.
Trust me, I am not the least bit naïve as to readily believe that there is not much more to be done by Team Akufo-Addo in order to bring the socioeconomic, political and cultural development of the country to a level that is avidly desired by most Ghanaians. And the preceding, of course, is what matters most. You see, the dodge here is that Mr. Suhuyini knows much better than to embark on any scandalous comparative analysis between the administrative and development success stories of both the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress. But why waste the precious time of hardworking but woefully underpaid Ghanaian civil and public servants with such ratiocinative poppycock? Which reminds of a recent news headline in which Mr. Suhuyini was reported to have said that his wife had wisely admonished him to seriously consider quitting his parliamentary sinecure.
To be certain, this young rambunctious NDC operative has been wrongheaded right since day one, when he rudely insisted that seniority in Parliament did not matter because all the members of our august House of Representatives had been equally voted for to go and represent their constituents in our National Assembly. He would also, during a radio and/or television interview, ask the female host to lift up her skirt so he may espy the color of her undies. I vividly recall that back then, I had sharply commented in one of my columns that Alhaji Suhuyini was a classic example of a sexual pervert who had absolutely no business, whatsoever, or moral right to be sitting in Parliament pretending to be responsibly representing the good citizens and voters of the Tamale-North Constituency in Accra.
Mr. Suhuyini would shortly text or email yours truly – I forget which – claiming self-righteously that he and his staff were conducting some research when they stumbled across my column lambasting his pathologically perverted public behavior. He also pathetically attempted to justify why he had demanded to be publicly shown the undies of his interviewer; unfortunately, his rather halting and desultory explanation made little sense to me. I, nevertheless, briefly wrote back to thank him for affording me the courtesy of an explanation. Indeed, I strongly wish there was a way to promptly withdraw titles like “Alhaji” from hotheaded pilgrims to Mecca, or The Holy Land, who have long since either deliberately or conveniently forgotten the fact that staunchly upholding the truth is a salient and an integral part of the sacred practice of Islam.
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