“Where Is The Speech I edited?”

“After the event, Premiere Colin Barnet got in his car all by himself and drove off. Not a single bodyguard could be seen anywhere in sight. But our ministers in Ghana have their own pantheons over which they seek to be supreme demigods”.

Vicky Hammah
Victoria Lakshmi Hammah

 

I have noticed how much attention Vicky Hammah has attracted, for not quite the desired reasons; and I hope this doesn’t rub into her wounds but acts as a landmark for her and others. As the Wise Old Lady said: “Let someone’s shipwreck be your landmark”.

I watched the video and was totally amazed at what I saw and heard. Vicky actually has someone who writes her speeches…and she expects them, even after they have written the speech to also be responsible for printing out the ‘edited’ speech and laying it on the podium for her- possibly with no idea of the nitty gritty of what she is about to ‘pour’.

Vicky is a smart young woman. I mean you have to be smart to be where she is. And lots of people look up to her just as much as loathe her; if the Ghanaian headlines and the reader comments are anything to go by. The least she can do is give fodder for her detractors’ canon. But while we are at it, let me share my initial reaction when I first saw the video.

#5. What did she just do?
#4. Is she talking to someone? (People speak to themselves sometimes…)
#3. Do I smell impudence in her tone?
#2. How is this going to end?
#1. Who cares where your blinking edited speech is? Tell us what you want to tell us. Don’t give us a speech!

To your credit Vicky, you recovered and ‘spoke from your mind’. For some reason, no news came out of this important conference/meeting but Vicky’s goof. So the media itself is involved in a lackluster format of reporting which hardly has much to show. Social issues which should be highlighted are sacrificed on the alter of chasing political non-news.

Anyhow, being as I was not there (apology Bawumia) to hear you ‘speak from your mind’, I am not able to say how well you did speaking from your mind. But you are a smart young woman. So I believe you did well with that. Imagine however these scenarios.

Scenario 1: Say you had written the speech yourself; all the way through so that it would almost be second nature as you step up on that podium. Say every word on that piece of paper represented what you really want to say, instead of what sounds good. Well too busy; more important things to do so let’s try scenario 2.

Scenario 2: Say you had taken the process up from where your speechwriter left off. Say you had printed the speech yourself and kept it with you ready to go? Ah, surely that is not going to take away from your busy schedule that much, would it?! But maybe there were still things that had to be done first and delegating this one was ok. The rugged life of a Ghanaian minister!

Scenario 3: Say you had gone through the speech that morning; even in the car as you were chauffeured and body-guarded to the event. Or as you sat waiting for your turn to speak.

Instead what I saw in that less-than-a-minute video was that it was actually someone’s responsibility to do all these things to the point of placing the speech of the minister on the podium for her.

I was at an event in Perth, Western Australia. The Premiere of the State had been invited to the event. I was pretty excited because I was envisaging seeing the convoy with all the fuss; Aussie style. I was totally surprised when the Premiere was introduced and a man who had been chatting with us all this while stepped up to acknowledge the introduction. After the event, Premiere Colin Barnet got in his car all by himself and drove off. Not a single bodyguard could be seen anywhere in sight. But our ministers in Ghana have their own pantheons over which they seek to be supreme demigods.

Sorry Vicky, this was just my observation. I could be wrong. But Consider a fourth scenario where after realizing that you had the wrong speech, you had cut to chase; skip all the ad-libs and jump straight to you speaking from your mind like you said you would do.

The implication has been that “she is giving us a speech” she probably knows little about. And that she is poorly organized. By cutting to chase you would have spared yourself this embarrassment and given us what you really think, which I think is worth more than the speech; edited or unedited.

Speeches haven’t done much for Africa. It’s about time politicians start talking reality and moving to the rhythm of the people who sent us to represent them. It’s about time they learn that the ‘booklong’ style of governance is not fooling the people anymore. It’s overdue for them to start showing results and stop giving speeches; get the rude awakening that they cannot take them for a ride anymore with speeches and jargons.

Anyway, I have found my edited speech so if I get any ‘wahala’ expect an edited version. Just me thinking people, just me thinking!

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