Fritz On The Soap Box

When Hon. Fritz Baffour cleared his baritone voice in front of the excited media personnel to prepare the way for the dropping of the bombshell from the Information Ministry, many wondered whether the gentleman was about to titillate them into laughter, given his original occupation.

As a comedian, some members of his audience were already suppressing the urge to laugh at such a serious engagement.

Although he had dropped his comedian's garb and was going to engage in serious state affairs, his decision to serve his subordinate as an MC appeared to be a prank stretched too far.

His description as a comedian by some newspapers to which he alluded when he answered questions on the airwaves the next day defined the opprobrium of the public about how he could reduce himself to such a level.

He should be thankful to God that he was not described as a clown, anyway. Running a serious ministry like Information is not about mimicking the voices of people.

Fritz, in reaction to the contemptuous description, found nothing untoward about his self-debasing. His explanation did not add up and only exposed his feeble and useless attempts at making good a bad situation.

According to him, he was the boss at the ministry and had assigned his two deputy ministers their beats at the ministry including the management of the judgment debt payment debacle.

That could not be true anyway because the two deputy ministers had been at the ministry before him; doing what they had always done with no change in schedule.

It stands to reason however that Fritz Baffour seeks to share in the embarrassing outcome of the mismanagement of the judgment debt payment saga so far. Stretching credibility to this extent is not good for a political office holder.

The MC role Hon. Fritz Baffour, Information Minister, played for his subordinate Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa is adequate pointer to the power the young Ablakwa continues to wield at this important state department.

The conclusion many have drawn from this administrative gaffe is that Ablakwa, who the maverick Kofi Wayo says is sometimes 'stupid,' is the de facto Information Minister, calling the shots even as Fritz bears the title of substantive minister.

No wonder the government communication machinery is a junky system whose word is not believed by right-thinking citizens of this country.

If a character like Ablakwa can order a whole information ministry including Fritz Baffour to fall in, as in military parlance, for a press conference whose objective is poorly defined, Ghanaians can throw their hands in the air in disappointment at what has become of governance in this beautiful country of ours.