A GNA Colour by Samuel Osei-Frempong

Accra, Feb.24,GNA - As the sun smite the weathering grass lawns around Parliament House, rose flowers refused to blossom because their tenderness could not stand the heat of the sun.

But in the cool Chamber of Parliament, beautiful and tender looking female members of Majority in Parliament spared lavish kisses on Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, the New Minister of Finance.

They had strolled through the pews in a serpentine fashion to congratulate the new kid on the block.

A well-proportioned member had baffled her colleagues as she planted her tender lips on the tired face of the man who had just read volumes of paper for three hours.

Her steps mimicked the catwalks of the fashion palaces where clothes are worn and displayed in well-trimmed bodies and where money and fame could be the only reasons for a nude walk. But in this house filled with the representatives of the people, her motivation was political and noble.

Sooner had she broken the ice had others followed. It was a spontaneous, colourful and a bit shy of sensuality. This man, a native of Agogo, in Ashanti, who used to heat the backbench of the New Patriotic Party, the then Minority, had over the years taken a walk to the enviable position of Finance Minister, a dream of many an economist and accountant.

Perhaps, it lied in his star and not entirely in his character, though his infectious smiles and laughter make him the most affable member on government's side.

He is not known for kissing and hugging but known for hard work and detail.

But Mr John Ndebugre, Member for Zebilla, told a story about stars, the climate, death, ignorance, belief and science before the budget statement.

He said he believed that there was a fault in the axis on which the earth span and that could have created the strange weather pattern. The early afternoons, the strange ozone layer and the paradox of the cold regions of America where gases that destroy the earth's protective layer are spewed the most.

When members thought he was dreaming, he took them down the alleys of history, to the days of Archimedes, whose naked body and water gave the world a principle that has defied time and cultures.

The white bearded man spoke like the "eye of the gods" to a petrified village seeking a remedy to an eminent calamity. His newfound mystic powers could not lead him to predict the minimum wage of a troubled workforce.

He could not predict the gross domestic product of a struggling nation who sells cheap gold to buy expensive oil. Ndebugre could not predict a solution to the problems of a nation. He had only seen it all in the stars.

Perhaps, had he looked hard enough, he could have seen the intention of a grateful and loyal party woman defying the gaze of the Speaker to kiss a tired man just chosen to patch up the purse of a nation. Feb. 24 05