Ajoa Yeboah-Afari: Of warped logic and weird diagnosis
Was Alhaji Halidu Haruna perhaps trying to usurp the powers of the UN Secretary-General by seeming to decree what amounts to a deadline for women to get married?
Advertisement
He attracted media attention when he recently hurled crude insults at celebrities Yvonne Nelson and Lydia Forson because they are still allegedly single despite being over 30 years of age.
As far as I know, almost every country has a minimum age for marriage - and Ghana’s is 18. But where in the world is there a deadline for people to get married by a certain age, or else....? Or is this warped logic another ‘first’ for Ghana? Anyhow, as there is no such stipulation in the Ghana Constitution, surely proclaiming a deadline for marriage is a UN matter?
Furthermore, according to the reports, Alhaji Haruna described Ms Nelson and Ms Forson as prostitutes. Their crime? They are leading a protest vigil against the protracted energy crisis in Ghana, nicknamed ‘Dumsor’ planned for tomorrow in Accra, dubbed ‘#DumsorMust Stop’.
By inference he is also questioning the right of the two, and naturally others of similar status, to comment on national issues until they marry!
As reported by the Daily Guide of Monday, May 4, Alhaji Halidu Haruna, said to be a presidential staffer wrote on his Facebook page: “Are those celebrities who are above the age of 30 years and not married responsible? What are they waiting for? Is it the prostitution that they are engaged in which has turned their minds upside down and they don’t sound reasonable again?”
However, the paper added that unable to withstand the backlash this generated, Haruna backtracked and apologised. I honestly and sincerely regret my action and I ask for forgiveness. To err is human.”
However, heaping insults and then offering a pretence grovelling apology is a well-known ploy of those who think others are gullible.
Other Trending Stories
I guess only Alhaji Haruna can explain what he meant by “what are they waiting for?” Is he not aware that by convention it is men who propose marriage? If he is married, was it his wife who proposed?
And what about women who are single by choice?
In any case, what on earth has organising a protest have to do with the marital status of the organisers if they happen to be women? What about the male celebrities involved, like rapper Sarkodie? What kind of stone-age male chauvinism is this?
In Ghana the right to express one’s view by way of a protest or a demonstration is a Constitutional right, so where exactly did Ms Nelson and Ms Forson go wrong to incur the wrath of Alhaji Halidu Haruna and others who supposedly speak for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC)?
Predictably, the vigil organisers and sympathisers are being accused of acting for the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Apparently, the accusers have the right to belong to the NDC, but it’s an offence for others to belong to the NPP.
They don’t seem to recognise that linking every criticism of government action or inaction as NPP-instigated creates the impression that people have no mind of their own – and that it is the NPP that has the numbers.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the vigil was facing uncertainty as owners of some proposed venues had refused use of their premises – apparently because they had not been notified formally by the organisers. The Ga Traditional Council too had insisted that it would be in conflict with their ban on noise-making.
Nevertheless, it appears that the controversy about the location, and notably the insults from pro-government quarters, has only served to generate even more public interest in the event.
In fact when I heard about the vulgar, anti-women comments from Alhaji Halidu Haruna, I said to myself that in some countries, this would have seen a swift sanction from the President or the government by way of distancing the administration from such uncouth language, or a sacking – or both.
Instead, when a comment came from the President a few days later, it was rather apparently to advise Ghana’s celebrities to stay out of politics. The Daily Graphic of Saturday, May 9 reported that “President Mahama ... tweeted: ‘The division in our politics is bad enough. Let it not (spread) to our creative industry. Let’s cease the polemics.”’
A pity that President Mahama didn’t reprimand the gutter language unleashed on the actresses, and by extension all unmarried Ghanaian women above 30, but chose to indirectly advise the entertainment community against commenting on political issues.
What group of people is not affected by the power shortage, which to me is not even ‘dumsor’ (meaning ‘power off and on’) but rather ‘adumdum-adumdum’ (constant power outages)? Surely the biggest protest was on May 1, when the power crisis was the theme of the May Day observance.
Advertisement
Just last week, citing the severe pressure on industries, the Association of Ghana Industries, as well as the Catholic Bishops Conference and the Christian Council, called on the government to urgently solve the problem.
Clearly the show business community is as much affected by the erratic power supply as any other group. So why wouldn’t they, too, feel concerned and decide to express their frustrations?
The Guide also reported that Dela Coffie, another of the NDC stalwarts trying to intimidate the actresses, described them as being in their menopause.
Although Haruna has reportedly apologised, I’m not aware of any apology from Dela Coffie. The interpretation of his weird diagnosis is that menopausal women have something wrong with their mind, but is he an authority on menopause?
Advertisement
Well, as sooner or later every woman alive experiences the menopause, did he consider that his disrespect applies also to all the women in his family and his circle, including: his grandmother, mother, wife, aunts, sisters, daughters and friends?
Maybe these insults should even be ignored as too contemptible to bother about, except that some of these developments need to be put on record for future reference. For, it is possible that there will come a time when one would need documentary evidence that such language actually came from people supposed to be spokespersons of the ruling party or the President.
Anyway, Yvonne Nelson and Lydia Forson can take consolation in the fact that when people resort to gratuitous insults it usually means that they have nothing else to say about an opponent or a cause whose justness they have no sound arguments to challenge.
Email: (ajoayeboahafari@yahoo.com)