Accra goes Venice

Once upon a day in June
It’s that time of the year
When we see the ballistic effect of rain.
As roiled waters rise
Hope recedes
But
We hear the chirping and the kwashiorkor chatter
Of bureaucrats and apparatchiks who promise all is well
Even as the waters swell

And who feed us grammar
In the midst of the horrendous dilemma.

Sorry for the pyrotechnics,
The blast, the dead and the loss
Of the year past,
They say,
And they say:
We’ve not lost the plot,
Millennium City Accra goes Venice
This is the Circle marine port
Just await the commissioning,
Domestic and international transit,
Gondolas will replace the okadas
We are awaiting jet skis
And we are getting amphibians too,
We are on par with London
So Accra-London-Accra.

As waters swell
The mayor swears:
Why wail?
Opportunity for innovation and job creation
Bring models we will patent
No sole-sourcing but
Smartt deals only
We have plans for the Odawna water park
With slides and chutes that reach to heaven;
And we’ll lay pipes and
Channel the excess to Akosombo -
The solution to dumsor.

But I roused to hear it’s all a ruse.
Appartchiks inking deals with no inkling,
Tinkering without pondering.

I heard Agua, the dwarf-king
Just made the waters flow
And let the city flood.

Just as Seke-l the money-dwarf bogged down BOG
Staged a heist
And screwed the economy.

Maybe I like this version.
Isn’t it simple?
I no reach the Venetian levels yet.

Our life is run on fables and myths
Sweetened with Komenda sugar granules.

By Yitz A. Nti (yitzanti@gmail.com)