Letter to Eno Cece,

Dear Eno, I have heard about your spat with a tiny intern at Tontokrom FM. Don’t ask me how I got to know about it because these days social media is like the air we breathe; it’s in every creek and crevice.

Eno, frankly, you trended! Twitter was buzzing and many Facebook posts were dedicated exclusively to you. Congrats! But I was surprised because, although I’d never met you, there was little else I knew about you. Cece, you know our elders say “wo feefee efunu eni a, wohu nsaaman”; that is to say: you discover maggots if you massage the flesh under the eyes of the dead.

In fact, I massaged the eyes of the dead, and I indeed discovered a large, ostentation, a scurry, a wriggling crowd of maggots.

I learnt about the many confrontations you’ve had with so many people in my fraternity. I heard stories about how you deliberately (may be impulsively) rough up journalists who try to interview you. Right in my newsroom, three people talked about your extreme unfriendly and lack of decorum towards them when they tried to speak to you.

Eno, you have been appointed to a very important ministry, one which seeks to address a major pillar in the millennium development goals or MDGs. That is, access to improved water and sanitation for all.

The word “all” in the provision refers to people, humans, Homo sapiens, and for that matter it’s humans you’ll encounter as you do your work.

It is therefore imperative that you manage your emotions to better deal with people. For example, a journalist who attempts to interview you on how government is dealing with filth in the capital should not be treated like a mad man walking the streets with a begging bowl.

All three colleagues who read about your attack on the intern were not surprised at all. In fact, they shared a lot of details about your encounters with them.

In one instance at Parliament, you told a crowd of journalists that you’d not take a question from a pressman from a particular media house.

Then a journalist from another media house went ahead to ask you a question. Cece, this journalist says your response was “rude”. I really wonder what your response would have been to any question the first journalist you detested would have asked you.

Another journalist spoke of how you terribly treated her while she tried to get an interview with you. Your responses to her request were so caustic but she stayed calm to your own surprise. After realizing you had goofed badly, you promised to give her your son to marry.

Another gentleman spoke of your caustic reaction towards him and a team which visited you at your office. At a point he had to make the point that you wanted to be the only one talking. That was when you stopped to allow him to speak.

Cece, don’t do things that will make people tag you as a bully. Maybe you are one but when you become a public figure, a person occupying such an important position in society, you need to be wear the courtesy of a public figure.

You see, many of these clashes you had with journalists in the past were never reported. They only remained in a few newsrooms and bedrooms. But this time, it was with an intern who experienced an “occupational shock!” She could not believe that she had been treated so badly, so she shared her encounter with you on social media.

The lesson here is that, sometimes, it takes the most unassuming people to take us down. I really don’t think you’re excited about the public commentary over the development. I know in hindsight, you’d not have treated the lady the way you did.

Cece, you’re in office to serve the people, and service to the people requires patience. No one is more human than the other.