The Ministry for Private Sector Development and President's Special Initiative has retracted a statement made by the Minister, Mr. Kwamena Bartels that the government had decided to resource Ministers and MPs to go into farming.

To be brutally frank, when we heard it, we thought at best it was a here-brained if well-intentioned idea and at worst a terribly expensive and unpardonable joke.

We are relieved that the Ministry has now come clear and jettisoned this meaningless proposal.

But the question we want to pose is this: Why did the Minister present this to the public if it wasn't properly thought through?

Really, we cannot understand why a Minister would present a "policy", making it sound like it had the full authority of government when actually it was his own private idea.

Nothing wrong with that if he had added a caveat making it quite clear that it was his and not the entire government's.

In fact, the statement created so much consternation at home and abroad that we cannot help but grouse openly that some of our senior public officials get easily carried away by their own feeling of importance and utter all manner of words that turn out to be pure hogwash.

Harsh words there, yes, but really it is the whole country that is made a fool of when they do such things.

So why did Mr. Kwamena Bartels say it? We hope the President would give him a dressing down - privately though!