The term “loose talk” is used to describe talk or a statement that is made carelessly or recklessly without the speaker thinking of the ramifications of his or her statements.  By definition, “loose talk” means inhibited and indiscreet talk or conversation, especially as might unintentionally lead to revealing private or sensitive information to others.  Simply put, a loose talk has the potential or likelihood of offending or causing harm in the future,

LOOSE TALKS COST LIVES

History tells us that there is a popular phrase about loose talk which says, “Loose talk costs lives”. That phrase, we are told, came into being during the Second World War and now many decades after that, this phrase has been used extensively in movies, books and songs all over the world.

The reason loose talk costs lives is that one must not be reckless or careless with what he or she says because it can lead to unpalatable events that might end up claiming the lives of innocent people.  Several instances of loose talks and their ramifications have been cited and for the handsight of this article and the benefit of my readers, I will like to mention two of them to keep them abreast of the dangers involved.

EXAMPLES OF WHAT LOOSE TALKS CAN DO TO SOCIETY

Let’s say a prominent politician mounts a podium and starts saying negative things and castigating a particular religion.  In the politician’s loose talk, he totally condemns the religion much to the fury or anger of the millions of followers of that particular religion.  This I believe, can lead to a chaotic situation that can claim a number of lives around the world.  Another example of loose talk is an instance in which a country’s Defence Minister, goes on air and starts talking about the very sensitive issues about his country which are not supposed to be disclosed and heard by the public because it can greatly harm the security of his country.

I have taken my time to dwell into the issue of loose talk and the emerging consequences involved because of the recent pronouncement by the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah, about the fact that the toll booths which have been abandoned across the country because of the abolishment of road toll collection would be used to serve another public purpose.

ROAD MINISTER’S LOOSE STATEMENT

According to the minister, these toll booths are to be converted into public urinals.  To quote him, “We even want to refurbish all the toll booth structures to provide proper and decent washrooms for the use by motorists so that we can advise them to desist from that practice where sometimes you see cars stopping on the highways and people getting down to ‘wee wee’ as we usually see”.

It is recalled that the government in its 2022 Budget and Financial Policy Statement, announced the removal and scrapping of toll collections across the country.  A directive from the sector minister caused the cessation of tolls even before the budget was approved by Parliament, an act which many described as unlawful.  These toll booths, since the abolishment, have been abandoned and that had raised concerns in many quarters with the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), urging the government to demolish the structures for the sake of road safety.  But it appears that the government has different plans for the abandoned structures.

For goodness sake, does it make sense to construct urinals at the middle of express roads for motorists to stop and ease themselves and what kind of purpose will such facilities serve to the Ghanaian public?  It appears that Ghanaians are being taken for granted by some of our ministers and other public officials and that is most unfortunate.

MINISTER’S DENIAL IN PARLIAMENT

Recently, the Roads and Highways Minister was in Parliament denying that he had said the toll booths were to refurbished and converted into places of urinal and that he said many things and was quoted out of context by the media.  His utterances in parliament sounded awkward and unfounded because his voice was recorded on tape and had been played many times by some radio and television stations in the country.  The best thing to do by the minister is to accept his guilt and apologise strongly to the media and Ghanaians in general.

THE E-LEVY AND NEGATIVE UTTERANCES

There is another loose talk statement currently circulating on social media and attributed to the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, aka Joe Wise, alleging that “if Ghanaians do not support the introduction of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), the various road construction work going on in the country will be stopped by the government.” This has generated a lot of fury or anger from a section of the public castigating and raising insults at him and the government.  There are many instances of some of these loose and reckless statements and utterances from senior public officials including ministers of state, parliamentarians and people in positions of trust in the country, which space will not allow me to focus on.

GHANAIANS AGGITATED BY THESE LOOSE AND RECKLESS TALKS

Ghanaians are in fact tired and being agitated by some of these loose and reckless talks and utterances by high profile personalities at the helms of affairs in this country and they better watch out.  These people should not feel and think that the people are ignorant and naïve and, therefore, they can pour all kinds of venom through their unguarded, irresponsible and reckless statements on them and run away.  The people are wide awake and alert and whatever loose talks or negative things they say will be duly interrogated and used against them in future.  They should not forget that first and foremost, they are politicians and, therefore, must know how to talk and communicate well with the people in whose hands power lies.    If they don’t know, printed materials are difficult to erase once they are noted and can be easily revisited at the least opportunity and at any given time.

POLITICIANS MUST RESPECT THE PEOPLE

For goodness sake, people placed in positions of trust must learn to exhibit high level of professionalism and to respect the offices they occupy as well as Ghanaians whose mandates have placed them where they are at the moment.  First and foremost, they must learn to control their impulses, think before they speak and above all work on their self-esteem.  They have been chosen out of the lot to serve the interest of this country and the people in general but not for any selfish motives.  They should not think that once they have been given the power to lead us, then we become stooges to them and, therefore, they can insult and pour all kinds of negativities on us and go scot free.  When the need arises for Ghanaians to speak out, they will use the same power of the thumb to express their anger and throw them out of office.

This is the time for our politicians to demonstrate human feeling and show high level of respect to the electorate but not to turn their backs on them through some of these loose and reckless utterances that serve no useful purpose, otherwise they will regret their negative actions.  They must accord the media the necessary respect at all times and watch their tongues when they mount platforms to talk. In the same vein, the media must also show professionalism in their work and do their work factually and diligently without fear or favour from any quarters in order to earn that crucial respect from the public.

Contact email/WhatsApp of author:

ataani2000@yahoo.com

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By Charles Neequaye