Reasoning beyond reason

When I heard the lawyer say we should allow lawyers to talk that matter which had been dealt with by a court, my immediate reaction was, ‘here comes another case of public sphere exclusion.’

But as I listened further, I realised it was that kind of common sense law talk that even we the unlearned could talk some.

A similar, but perhaps less sinister reasoning beyond reason is being noticed by some of us who have taken the first citizen’s word to point out things going on around him that are not so much helpful to the motherland.

He says he is in a hurry to do the motherland good. That means he is in a hurry to better the lives of my citizen compatriots, me included. To do that, he needs all the competent people in the system.

All competent people include those of that calibre who had been appointed before by congress who fit that assessment of competence.

It is true under congress you would not be allowed to function competently because their corruption and thievery would not permit that. Without the congress corruption yoke around the neck of the competent, however, that individual is freed to perform competently.

Second, there is something called institutional memory. Where the motherland’s objective is to build institutions, the memories, judged for better or worse, are absolutely needed. In that sense, the expectation is that if a number one has to go, a number two has to stay. The condition is that the number two was properly recruited using all normal processes: position advertised, legitimate interview conducted and appointment made based on performance at the interview.

Such number twos are necessary transition tool, an invaluable administration asset. They guarantee the wheels of government will continue to turn and they can alert the new boss about what could have impaired the organisations laxity, underperformance or non-performance. It’s reasoning beyond reason to come in and introduce a twosome, number one and two, who are completely new to the structure and workings of an organisation. So share the spoils all you who have the opportunity to share.

There’s so much a president can know. And there’s only that much truth those around him will tell or advise him. For a vast system that he has to manage, once again (and this cannot be repeated enough) it is these trusted ones who are going to make or break the realisation of a Ghana developed without begging.

To appoint yourself a self-appointer with insatiable appetite, thinking ?sono victory 2016 or that you suffered more than everyone else because you have an appointment is beyond reasoning.

Regional ministers shouldn’t determine MMDCEs under them. Ministers shouldn’t stretch influence beyond their ministries. Those who choose to say no, I say you are working to undermine a president’s dream of selflessly building a prosperous motherland.

It is pure greed, congress-like, for a minister to reach out of his ministry to plant someone in another’s ministry. Scratch my back and I scratch your back distribution of appointments can impede recruiting that supports efficiency and guarantees positive results. Once recruitment is messed up, the fundamentals of good management and administration would have been compromised.

Third, for those crying nepotism, they should stop pushing it. This motherland has managed to survive this far because like our mothers of yesteryear generation, those excluded have decided not to complain or ask for their fair share. One of the greatest disappointments of my life was a former professor incompetently compiling a list to show nepotism in President Kufuor’s appointments.

Tell me, all you my compatriots, none among you will have the guts to question the competence of his illustrious brother Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor.

Congress has controlled appointments to public offices 19+8+8 times than ?sono’s 8+plus a quarter. So if we are to do a list of who was appointed when by whom, it could set off negative thoughts among sections of the motherland’s citizenry. People should stop making the useless references to appointment of competent people imputing wrongdoing.

If a family chose to develop the brains of its members, it should suffer for that. Names can be deceptive too.

As for me and my people, we are for the president. We may never reach him or encounter him with counselling opportunities. But we will continue talking. Who knows? He may be accidentally exposed to what we are saying; that which could help him to realise his selfless dream of developing our motherland.

Those who don’t like what we are saying because they are selfish would do their worse as congresspeople did. But we know that the motherland’s prosperity is our prosperity. Anyone who knows the true meaning of prosperity knows it meaningfully endures only with the collective. That’s reasoning with reason.