The phrase ‘Papano’ started trending on social media following an unfortunate exchange between actress Tracy Boakye and musician Mzbel.
It subsequently popped up in Parliament during a debate between the minority and the majority over the Agyapa Royalties Limited agreement.
During the proceedings, the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah described former Deputy Energy Minister and MP for Yapei Kusawgu, Hon. John Jinapor as ‘papano’.
“Mr Speaker, I want to encourage my colleagues on the other side. I want to encourage my good friend who just spoke [referring to John Jinapor]. In my hometown, we will say, ‘papano’. ‘Papano’, I want to encourage ‘papa no’ to take some time and follow the structure of this conversation and support”, Oppong Nkrumah said.
However in a post on social media in reaction to the Information Minister’s comment, Prof Gyamp wrote: “It is needless to spark needless controversy by using bogus social media lexicon in a parliament that has clear lexicon and appropriate formal register of lingua franca. If the way parliamentarians dress, is prescribed, the way they express themselves on the formal floor, cannot be unprescribed.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah must not be complacent and swollen headed. He is a young man carving a niche for himself and he must concentrate on that, rather than being the source of this needless controversy and walkout.
He could have made his point without the needless phrase. He didn’t need to describe his colleague as ‘papa no’ to sound eloquent
