*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“The second deputy speaker of Parliament and NPP MP for Dome Kwabenya, Professor
Mike Ocquaye, has once again rejected suggestions for the indemnity clauses in the
1992 constitution to be removed. The Tuesday’s edition of the Daily Graphic reported
that the Constitution Review Commission has recommended the expunging of the clauses
that seek to protect all coup makers from prosecution, in its report expected to be
presented to President Mills on December 12. The indemnity clauses of the 1992
Constitution have shielded coup makers in Ghana including ex-President J. J Rawlings
from possible prosecution for acts and omissions committed during their reign”
(Ghanaweb November 30, 2011).

Mike Ocquaye has it all
Pimping wealth for himself
Retailing poverty for all
From politricking politics
Like all pen-armed robbers
Garlanded in folly suits
Mike Ocquaye has it all
Mansions in Dome-Kwabenya
Hotels in Dome-Kwabenya
Dome-Kwabenya has nothing
It has beleaguered gutters
It has pot-holed roads
It has poor electricity
It has poor sanitation
It has no health centers
These are his indemnity

The Mike Ocquayes
The educated thieves
They treasure Indemnity
Treasure it more than JJ
Indemnity is their oxygen
In the sadistic mirror of guilt
Oquaye evokes Indemnity
Mike Ocquaye’s Trojan virus
Of safeguarding Indemnity
Of militating against coups
Of nursing national stability
Ocquaye makes JJ the SAINT
The saintly SAINT of Ridge
JJ makes Ocquaye the SATAN
The SATAN of Dome-Kwabenya
The SATAN of graft, greed
Of the greedy bastards
Of the pen-armed robbers

Ocquaye, the old professor
The petal of yesteryear
Who used to wear faded khaki
Who used to wear aging sandals
Beaming in a bored car
Straddling roads of uncertainty
Today the poor Ocquaye is rich
Rich and enriched by politics
Rolling along in new cars
Tied to a tired colonial tie
The old Professor has it all

Let us be bold, bold, bold
Bold to call them thieves
The pen-armed robbers
Garlanded in indemnity suits
Bloating with big Englishes
Worse than armed-robbers
Sadistic pen-armed robbers
They who kill in the millions
They who kill slowly
Killers of the dream
Chameleons of wealth
Elitist educated thieves
Who enrich themselves
Who kill the masses
Bureaucratic mosquitoes
That suck the masses dry
That dehydrate the masses
Like grass in Harmattan
That dehydrate the masses
Of empowerment
Of conscientization
Of enrichment

The old rolling professor
The petal of yesteryear
The sage of political science
Who used to wear khaki
Who used to wear aging sandals
Beaming in a bored car
Straddling roads of uncertainly
Today the poor Prof is rich
Rolling along in new cars
Masquerading in suits
Tied to a tired colonial tie

Go to Dome-Kwabenya
Go and count the mansions
Several huge mansions
On acres of land
Mansions from politics
Ocquaye’s mansions
Ocquaye’s hotels
Mansions he didn’t have
Not as a poor Prof

In the mirror of guilt
Evocation of Indemnity
Makes JJ the SAINT of Ridge
Makes Ocquaye the SATAN
Satan of Dome-Kwabenya
The Satan of graft, greed
Of our greedy politicians
Of the greedy bastards
Of the pen-armed robbers
The killers of the dream

*Akadu N. Mensema, Ph. D., is a nationalist Denkyira beauty. She is a trained oral
historian cum sociologist and Professor in the USA. She lives in Pennsylvania with
her great mentor and teaches Africa-area studies at a college in Maryland. In her
pastime, she writes what critics have called “populist hyperbolic, satirical”
poetry. She can be reached at akadumensema@yahoo.com