Post by Bonobo on Mar 27, 2012 14:02:59 GMT 1
Poland's first black MP wins best speech award
15.03.2012 09:32
Nigerian-born John Godson, Poland's first black MP, has won Polish Radio's annual 'Silver Lips' best speech award.
John
John Godson receives 'Silver Lips' award: photo - W.A.Juryk/PR
The annual Polish Radio poll celebrates the most witty and disarming remarks by politicians each year.
Godson, a member of the centre-right ruling Civic Platform party (PO), saw off competition from a short-list that included President Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
However, it was Godson's light-hearted remarks about Poland's demographic problems that won the day with the listeners of Polish Radio's 3rd programme.
“I appeal to Poles to not be afraid about having more children,” he began in a radio interview last year.
“I have four wonderful children. If you can have one child, you can also have two. And if you have two, you can also have three. I have already done my job!”
Accepting the Silver Lips award, inspired by the expression “speech is silver but silence is golden,” Godson thanked his Polish wife.
“I would like to dedicate this award to my wife, without whom I would not have been able to have said 'I've done the job,” he joked.
A former church minister, Godson came to Poland in 1993 and became a Polish citizen in 2001.
Wednesday evening, he revealed in an interview with TVP public television that he had applied to join the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) in 2001, believing that the party had Christian values.
“I did not get any response,” he said.
“I think today they are kicking themselves that they did not accept me,” he added.
Law and Justice MP Joachim Brudzinski, who was also taking part in the TVP interview, responded that in 2001, his party “functioned amid entirely different political realities and statutes,” and that at that time, the party “had the idea of trying to build a very narrow party cadre.”
Brudzinski said that it was “a shame” that Godson had not had more patience, adding that there were indeed several Civic Platform MPs that he would be “very happy to bring into the ranks of PiS."
15.03.2012 09:32
Nigerian-born John Godson, Poland's first black MP, has won Polish Radio's annual 'Silver Lips' best speech award.
John
John Godson receives 'Silver Lips' award: photo - W.A.Juryk/PR
The annual Polish Radio poll celebrates the most witty and disarming remarks by politicians each year.
Godson, a member of the centre-right ruling Civic Platform party (PO), saw off competition from a short-list that included President Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
However, it was Godson's light-hearted remarks about Poland's demographic problems that won the day with the listeners of Polish Radio's 3rd programme.
“I appeal to Poles to not be afraid about having more children,” he began in a radio interview last year.
“I have four wonderful children. If you can have one child, you can also have two. And if you have two, you can also have three. I have already done my job!”
Accepting the Silver Lips award, inspired by the expression “speech is silver but silence is golden,” Godson thanked his Polish wife.
“I would like to dedicate this award to my wife, without whom I would not have been able to have said 'I've done the job,” he joked.
A former church minister, Godson came to Poland in 1993 and became a Polish citizen in 2001.
Wednesday evening, he revealed in an interview with TVP public television that he had applied to join the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) in 2001, believing that the party had Christian values.
“I did not get any response,” he said.
“I think today they are kicking themselves that they did not accept me,” he added.
Law and Justice MP Joachim Brudzinski, who was also taking part in the TVP interview, responded that in 2001, his party “functioned amid entirely different political realities and statutes,” and that at that time, the party “had the idea of trying to build a very narrow party cadre.”
Brudzinski said that it was “a shame” that Godson had not had more patience, adding that there were indeed several Civic Platform MPs that he would be “very happy to bring into the ranks of PiS."