Opinions of Friday, 19 April 2013
Columnist: Sarpong, Justice
Sarpong, Justice
"I was disqualified from the army because of my skin colour - Yammin"
"Deputy Youth and Sports Minister-designate, Joseph Yammin, yesterday disclosed how his long-cherished dream of becoming a soldier was shattered on account of his complexion.He said, The military officer told me in plain language that this is just the same way Rawlings started."
According to him, the said military officer ensured that he was not enlisted into the Army, referring to him (Yammin) as a foreigner.The nominee disclosed that he is a Ghanaian, and that his mother is a native of Sankana in the Nadowli District of the Upper West region. GOOD, who is your father and where is he from?
Who is this man? There is something that doesn't jive with the story he is telling.
Is he telling us people with his colour are discriminated against in Ghana? Don't we still enlist people like him into the Army? Can Yammin tell us the real reason he was not admitted into the Army instead of this cock and bull story? Was it because he couldn't prove his citizenship?
The Parliamentary committee vetting him needs to dig deeper into his background because he is portraying verisimilitude with this story of being denied into the Army because of his colour and to quell the questions surrounding him, the said Army Officer should be called to verify his story. What year did it happen? He might have been denied trying to get into the Army with fake papers. I don't believe any Army Officer will tell him what he was supposedly told. What is it about his colour that could have been an impediment to his cherished dreams of becoming an Army Officer? What is Yammin's educational background? When did this discrimination happen? He said being denied into the Arrmy influenced his decision to join the political bandwagon in 2008 which is the quickest way in Ghana to attain riches at the moment. What influenced him to become a Politician? There is a mystery about this man that we should investigate before we end up with a 'burkinabe' Sports Deputy Minister. We have heard nothing about his educational background. Did he attend school in Ghana? What schools? What has he done in his life? He told us he was born in Kumasi to a woman from Upper West Region and claims a Ghanaian citizenship because of his mother. If he was really born by a woman from Upper West Region whom he failed to name then he is a Ghanaian by birth but what is intriguing is that, this Pakistani looking Yammin has failed to say anything about his father. Does he has other sibblings, uncles and Aunties from the mother's side to prove citizenship? Is his mother still living?
I am chuffed the vetting committee seems to be throwing soft balls to this Yammin guy instead of throwing him 100 miles per hour fastballs and curling curve balls to fillet the truth from somebody who seems to be trying to hide something about himself. Is Yammin a Ghanaian? Inquiring minds want to know.
Justice Sarpong (CARDINAL of TRUTH)