A Joker called Hassan Ayariga
Posted by By Akogun Akomolafe at 16 November, at 14 : 03 PM Print
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It is said that: “It is best to close your mouth and let people think that you are stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Who advised the People’s National Convention (PNC) Presidential Candidate, Hassan Ayariga, to agree to partake in the recent Presidential Debate?
Appalling, Catastrophic, Disastrous and Debacle are some of the words that comes to mind as one tries to make sense of his contribution, or lack of it.
Gosh, what was he thinking about!
Unlike the other candidates who came well prepared and gave robust accounts of themselves, Mr. Ayariga fumbled his way throughout the debate. Not only did he strain to think, but the guy cannot even stich together a correct sentence without great efforts.
He left us with the impression of a man totally out of his depth. Little wonder that he continually drew laughter of scorn and derision.
Mr Ayariga is certainly not a man I want to lead my country, or any country for that matter.
This Peacefmonline news report very well captured Mr. Ayariga’s ill-performance and what many people think of it:
“The People’s National Convention’s presidential candidate, Hassan Ayariga’s appearance at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) debate will remain a lasting memory for most Ghanaians.
The 40-year-old presidential candidate’s responses to queries at the encounter left many laughing their hearts out as they wondered if he prepared for the programme.
Intermittently, the moderators had to plead with the audience to stop laughing as the programme was being aired live on various television and radio networks nationwide. The PNC flagbearer’s responses made laughter simply irresistible.
Ayariga, in his response to a question on the transformation of the economy, indicated that he would solely rely on the youth as they were the engine of growth.
According him, a PNC government, under his watch, would invest heavily in youth capacity building and provide start-up capital as many infant businesses started with business capital and no working capital.
“It is therefore not surprising that in Ghana when businesses start and are not able to make profit within the shortest possible time they start crumbling because there was no fund to keep it even without profit,” he noted.
He promised to protect Ghanaian small and medium enterprises against foreign invasions by companies supported by their respective countries. On his health policies for the country, the PNC leader stated that he would encourage contraceptive use as a way of checking the population, attracting a loud roar from the audience.
As if that was not enough, Mr. Ayariga stated, “We will encourage the salaries of doctors and nurses so they remain in Ghana and we will export brain drain.”
The obviously elated Ayariga decried Akufo-Addo’s free Senior High School (SHS) policy, saying if currently there were 800,000 pupils attending SHS because it was not affordable, a total of over 2 million would soon fill up schools because it would be free.
That, he noted, would largely affect the quality of products schools would churn out as there would not be adequate teachers for the teeming numbers.
His stance however is at variance with his party’s position which says the party will provide “free, quality and accessible education from the basic level to university.”
He received the moral support of his wife even as members of his party failed to comment on his performance at the close of proceedings.
Top on the agenda of various social networks and media houses across the country was how the Bawku-born Hassan Ayariga fared at the debate.
In a question posed on a social media network about the performance of the candidates, these were some of the comments made about Mr. Ayariga. “Hasan Ayariga did well. His display was best fit for an intelligent class-six prefect. “I think Ayariga should have been given the opportunity to ‘PHONE A FRIEND’, go for a 50/50, or use the audience.”
“[He] was extremely dull, lacked the confidence of a leader, clarity of thought was a problem and has no vision to inspire hope for the future.”
Source: http://elections.peacefmonline.com/politics/201211/143560.php
It has been over a week now since that Presidential Debate at Tamale. Given his abysmal, no, let’s make that catastrophic performance, I have expected the handlers of the PNC’s Candidate to advise him to throw in the towel and withdraw from the presidential race. I also expected him to fire some of his lieutenants for so badly mis-advising him.
In some countries that I know, Mr. Ayariga would have long withdrawn from the race.
In places like Japan, the man would have been so scandalized by the public ridicule he received that he would have rushed for his Seppuku and commit hara-kiri.
Even though our elders say that death is preferable to public ignominy, I’m not telling the young fella to go and kill himself.
But I am telling him to spare himself further public embarrassment. He also should spare us the indignity of identifying him as a presidential candidate in our country.
There might be some things that he is good at, but the truth is that Mr. Ayariga is no presidential material.
I know quite a few decent folks who are members of the PNC. Some of them are quite brainy, knowledgeable and well-informed. It is precisely this that led me to wonder how on earth they couldn’t find a better material to present to the nation rather than the pathetic Mr. Ayariga.
Or could it be true (as it is whispered) that the PNC is just a one-man show run by a [young] man with very deep pockets?
Alas, my expectations of a quick albeit quiet exit from the presidential race did not materialise. In fact, the man who should have rushed out of town or bury his head in deep sand, has come out to make more silly pronouncements, thereby compounding his woes.
Not surprisingly, the PNC candidate has become the butt of joke and one concerned citizen has even entered his name as candidate into the English language. Here is how he put it: “I, in my capacity as the Queen of England, and supreme owner of the language wishes to introduce to you, for your learning and usage, the newest English word in the world-AYARIGATE!
Past tense-Ayarigated!
Adjective-Ayarigatedly!
Verb-to Ayarigate
Culled from the root word AYARIGA, meaning, to cause a national laughter, joy and frenzy.
Example…Asamoah Gyan’s late goal winner threw the entire nation into an “ayarigated” mood…
Verb: Funny Face can make you “ayarigate” till you piss on yourself.
Adjective: the news of his arrival was “ayarigatedly” received.
Kindly help spread this new English word to be added to the lots of other thinking…
Hurricane Ayarijargons
We’ll research the soil. I’ll export brain drain, we will encourage doctors salaries.
When you fly over Tamale, you see the land standing there! There are two types of debts, internal and external! Obama said yes we can’t! Where did you went for the loan!
I’ll also thank my father here and my brother here and my brother here!
ICT-information communication tokunologye!
Source: http://trivia.peacefmonline.com/trivia/201211/143447.php
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Two days after his debacle, Mr. Hassan Ayariga broke his silence and tried to explain away his woeful performance.
Listen to him: “I think that I excelled even more than the President and Abu Sakara, including Nana Akufo-Addo. At the debate, I was treated unfairly because at the debate hall, you realized that all the three contestants came with some kind of booklet which they referred to. I was the only person who walked to the hall without a piece of paper. If a debate is going to be based on you coming and people coming to ask you questions; why do we go there with documents, manifestos and notes?” “I don’t see it to be a debate, but I see it to be the three political parties coming to outline their visions. So I stand tall in the first place; I stood there without a note, I stood there without a pamphlet, I stood there without manifesto to refer to but they did that. So can you compare Ayariga’s performance with their performance even though I excelled than them?” he asked. In response to public comments that he wasn’t eloquent in his presentation and made grammatical errors, he said: “Some were just speaking oral English; speaking slangs; that is not what we are looking for. I am a German trained; 20 years I have been in Germany. If I want to speak German, none of them will understand one word. I am not here to speak German or speak slangs. I am here to outline visions and policies.” The PNC flagbearer however admitted he may have erred in one or two instances “but even English scholars make mistakes and everyone does from time to time,” he added. |
Source: http://elections.peacefmonline.com/politics/201211/143602.php
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It is sad that Mr. Ayariga appears incapable of doing self-criticism. No, it was not the bad grammar that was the major problem, Mr. Ayariga; we can live with that. It was the total lack of rationality and lucidity in your presentation that left us flabbergasted. It was your lack of the ability to put out cogent and coherent arguments that gave you away. Your inability to coherently articulate your visions was what gave people such belly-full of derisive laughter, and revealed you as pitifully unprepared for the office of president. Leaders need more than visions; they also need the ability to properly articulate those visions so that people can relate and identity with them. It is that simple, Mr. Ayariga. No one expect a Nuclear Scientist to run for president; but we expect anyone that sought to lead us to have enough sense to gather competent people around him. It was quite obvious that you are deficient in several departments, what we expect is that you recognize this deficiencies and work on them. If you expect us to take you as a serious contender for the highest office in our country, we expect of you to attract competent people to help you. It could be true, as you said in Wa during the launch of the parliamentary bid of your party’s General Secretary, Bernard Monah for the Wa Central seat, that: “Over the years, we have had leaders and elders managing this economy their own way. We are here today to tell you that leadership must change and if leadership must change, we must know the direction in which we want to go (sic). “The youth must and are willing to take the leadership of this country. This country must develop and this country must move forward…We must give power to the youth.” What we expect of the youth, in return, is to equip themselves intellectually and mentally before they seek high offices. No clown should insult our intelligence by seeking the presidency; it is far too important an office to be trivialized. If youth it must be, then it must be youth capable of making better sense that these meaningless words you spewed in Wa, “We are here today to tell you that leadership must change and if leadership must change, we must know the direction in which we want to go” Sorry, Mr. Ayariga, you are simply no presidential material. And until you get some very serious education, you will remain a jokster with more money than brain cells. Try to mind your business until you can think of better agenda to prosecute at the presidential level than to export brain drain. Hopefully, by the time you are ready, the land of Tamale will still be standing there even as you research the soil and encourage doctors’ salaries, possibly with ‘tokunologye’. Tchaah!
About the Author Femi Akomolafe is a passionate Pan-Africanist. A columnist for the Accra-based Daily Dispatch newspaper and Correspondent for the New African magazine. Femi lives in both Europe and Africa, and writes regularly on Africa-related issues for various newspapers and magazines. Femi was the producer of the FOCUS ON AFRICANS TV Interview programme for the MultiTV Station. He is also the CEO of Alaye Dot Biz Limited Dot Biz, a Kasoa-based Multimedia organisation that specialises in Audio and Video Production. He loves to shoot and edit video documentaries. His highly-acclaimed books (“Africa: Destroyed by the gods,” “Africa: It shall be well,” “18 African Fables & Moonlight Stories” and “Ghana: Basic Facts + More”) are now available for sales at the following bookshops/offices:
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