A popular saying from the days of antiquity is that great power comes with great responsibility. Using this aphorism, one would have assumed that people, who have been appointed into responsible positions like members of parliament, would bring a great sense of responsibility to their duties and powers.
Apparently, however, some of our leaders have developed diarrhea of the verbal variety. They have developed the penchant of allowing their mouths to run off when their brains have not finished with the duty of carefully examining all the facts of any given situation.
The result is that people, who should know
better, speak and spout off at the mouth before they think.
One such person is the Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy
Committee of Parliament, Adam Mutawakilu. Mutawakilu recently called for the
arrest of the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation,
Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng for his alleged role in the disappearance of the
hundreds of excavators seized from illegal miners.
“He [Frimpong Boateng] should be the one who should be arrested for first of all breaching the law and paving the way for others,” the MP told the media on Wednesday.
“He didn’t follow the law and as a result, the constituency chairman [and] regional chairman, now have the opportunity to take part in the vanishing and sale of these excavators,” Mr. Mutawakilu added.
With great demonstration of ignorance, Mr. Mutawakilu did not specify exactly which law Frimpong Boateng is supposed to have breached.
Worse, and totally flying in the face of all logic, is the fact that the person who brought forth the issue of the disappearance of the vehicles, was Professor Frimpong Boateng himself. One wonders what Mr. Mutawakilu was employing in place of logic, when he called for the arrest of the man lamenting over the disappearance of certain items.
Would Professor Frimpong Boateng come to stand on the rooftops to blow the alarm about the missing vehicles, if he was responsible for the disappearance in the first place? This thought (if he thought in the first place) should have given Mutawakilu pause. But not him.
In a shocking development, Mutawakilu went straight ahead to also call for arrests, resignations and dismissals, when he is not apprised of all the facts.
He told the press that his committee plans to push for the Ministers of Environment, Science and Technology and Lands and Natural Resources to appear before it to answer for the hundreds of missing excavators seized from illegal miners.
“We will first of all push for the Minister; both Frimpong-Boateng and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to appear before it,” he said, because they are seeking clarity.
We at the Daily Searchlight would wonder why, a
man who is not clear about a particular situation and does not have all the
facts, would go about calling for arrests and resignations and dismissals.
Ignorance, indeed, must be a good excuse to speak.
In conclusion, we would like to suggest to Mr. Mutawakilu that he should learn to keep his mouth shut when he believes that reason cannot flow forth from it. Mr. Mutawakilu, the fact that you have a mouth does not mean you should open it by heart.
Source: Kenneth Agyei Kuranchie