Amidu is no coward; JDM forgot

Four-letter words are unprintable, and it is for a reason: they are offensive to decent people in society.

In Parliaments all over the world, certain words are un-utterable. No matter how foolish an MP sounds or looks, you don’t call him/her a fool.

It is said about Britain’s war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, that one day he was so incensed by a lie uttered in the Commons that he could not control his rage. Yet when he caught the Speaker’s eye and got to his feet, he could not use the word, ‘liar’. “Mr Speaker,” he began, “the Member from ….. is uttering the very opposite of the truth.” That saved him.

John Mahama is not only a former President; he has also been a former Member of Parliament. Even outside of Parliament, there are certain words that cannot (should not) be used in public by a former President on anybody, least of all, an officer of state.

Am I playing holier than thou? I concede that in Ghana, to be tagged ‘Government Official One’ — a synonym for corruption — will pull the hair out of anybody’s nostrils, especially two months to a crucial election.

Scandal