Controversial marriage counsellor and regular pundit on Peace FM’s Entertainment show, George Lutterodt, has added his voice to industry players who have called out the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, for shading John Dumelo over his ambition to enter parliament.
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey on a political platform claimed that parliament was serious business, not people who have acted movies and think they are popular.
“Parliament is for serious-minded people and not people who have done some movies and think they are popular. It is a serious place; I will tell him; the laws of the country are enacted in parliament. If our President can continue his job very well, he needs Lydia Alhassan in Parliament to do the job so that all you need as a constituency will be easily given to you,”
Her comments which were a direct shade to the actor now turned politician John Dumelo was met with fierce criticism from some industry players who thought a woman of her calibre should not have made such comments.
One person who didn’t take kindly to the utterances of the minister was Arnold Asamoah Baidoo, who said the minister was too exposed to make such unfortunate comments.
Arnold said, “My biggest disappointment is the woman who made that comment because, in my estimation, I felt that the woman is really exposed and she is exposed, and if she is indeed with the creative arts industry as is being claimed here, then she made a lot of ignorant comments on that platform…all over the world, people who are movie actors are popular, and as exposed as this woman is, she should have known that Ronald Reagan, when he contested for president, no one said because he is an actor no one should vote for him, nobody said Arnold Schwarzenegger because he is a movie actor and popular, no one should vote for him…”
The latest to add his voice to the criticism of the minister is Counselor George Lutterodt.
According to him, his biggest issue with the minister’s comments was the fact that she said parliament was for serious business and not people who think they are popular or movie star.
Citing the Year of Return as an example, he said many of the celebrities who came to the country to celebrate the event were movie stars and musicians whose popularity was what brought them into the country in the first place, and so it is unfortunate for the minister, whose ministry facilitated their coming to make such comments.
"…I am talking about the Minister for Foreign Affairs, when you were speaking you mentioned people who came to join us to celebrate the Year of Return, you gave us people who have been celebrated and they came to join us to celebrate us. The foreign Ministry alone attracted people who were also popular to Ghana. Stave Harvey and all the rest, it is their popularity that made them come to Year of return so if our Foreign Minister is saying Parliament is for serious business, not for popular people and movie star, in fact, that is the part I have issues with most”…he said.
Counselor Lutterodt said there is nowhere in the constitution that says that a person cannot be a member of parliament because he is a movie star or popular, saying there have been many instances where people who ‘knew nothing’ had entered parliament and had learned and moved through the ranks to be good at making policies.
“So, what she said means John Dumelo being a movie star and popular alone does not qualify him to be in parliament but our constitution doesn’t say so. People have been in parliament who didn’t know anything but with time and training they are able to make meaning legislatures. The pedigree the minister has cannot be compared to John Dumelo, so when she stands on a political platform and makes such utterances, she didn’t speak well…” he concluded.
