(PART 1)

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.; Post-Grad. Dipl.

**This poem was inspired by Rawlings’ claim that President Yar’Adua of Nigeria saved Ghanaians from the claws of the NPP’s efforts to rig the last election: it is one of several allegations that Rawlings has made without any evidence.

PROLOGUE: THE NOISY UNRULY KING

JJ promised to kill mosquitoes
To rid Ghana and Africa of malaria
But mosquitoes are not the slain judges
So he didn’t kill them, not at all ever
Instead mosquitoes are his best friends
And one them is called General Mosquito
It’s one of JJ’s laundry lists of hallucinations
Pet projects that are only in his mind’s eye
He bought speedboats to kill mosquitoes
But the speedboats sail in Konadu’s Jacuzzi
A Jacuzzi that was bought for her back-ache
At a time when hospitals were graveyards
At a time when the masses were suffering
JJ has not honored any of his promises
Not when he was the head of state
Not when he was the King of the P/NDC
Not now when he is still the King of NDC
Not since he left the besmeared office
And took away sixteen state cars
JJ has not honored any of his promises
Not the promise of killing mosquitoes
Which street kids in Accra do daily
In order to fall asleep on the street-side
While JJ sleeps joyfully in air-condition
Yes he rose from yoke-gari debited rags
From yoke-gari rags to credited riches
Yes, he can afford costly designer items
Yet he still talks about accountability
He claims all his opponents are corrupt
And he alone is a paragon of virtue
Rawlings is riding muled-Ghanaians
And we are in for a long deceitful ride

ACT 1: 1979 THE COMING OF THE MEGALOMANIAC
When he came in 1979
He was lean and hungry-looking
He was a dirty leaf in a gale of winds
Today he is well-fed not on yoke gari
His waistline is as large as Korle Lagoon
Full of unwanted residue of recklessness

When he came in 1979 he was disheveled
Today he is well-groomed and contented
He wears the best designer clothes
His children look good in theirs too
And his wife has seven house-helps

When he came in 1979
He preached transparency, probity
Today we know nothing about his wealth
He says that his ghost friends support him
Perhaps those who were killed in his era
His probity is called Indemnity Clause

When he came in 1979
He preached populist people’s power
But did not tolerate opposition
He even “ shit”-bombed press houses
He even set fire to the premises of GBC
The fire was not about cooking yoke gari
It was to cover up his extant atrocities
He carted newspapers from the archives
It was not to read because he can’t read
He erased his evils from recorded news

When he came in 1979
Broken-bottle haircut became an art-form
To silence and identify his opponents
BNI became his instrument of torture
Death squads roamed at night for prey
And the Castle’s dungeon tasted blood

When he came in 1979
He preached austerity and frugality
He told all of us to tighten our belts
But he ate like an angry-hungry man
Who was fed up with yoke-gari

When he came in 1979
He pontificated one person one toilet
Today he has 15 toilets at Ridge
And Yaa Konadu bought a Jacuzzi
Konadu IMPORTED the Jacuzzi
The first of its kind in West Africa
It was meant to relax her back ache

When he came in 1979
Yaa Konadu was a shadow of herself
Today Konadu is very rich and powerful
She can make and unmake her enemies
31st December Movement was good
But it did not help women, but helped her
It flooded women in the path of the PNDC
She never said no to the abuse of women
When women were caned in the genitalia
Yaa Konadu loved it because she loves it

When he came in 1979
Nkrumah’s Ghana was united and solid
Today, he has divided up Ghana
Divisiveness between Akans and Ewes
Divisiveness among Northern groups
Between Akuapem Guans and Akans
He told Northerners about Asante hegemony
He told Fantes “Adze wo fie na oye”
To Ewes Kufour developed only Asante
But Kufour’s eight years was a Heaven-sent
Eggs of progress were hatched in Eweland
At least he built Keta Sea Wall in 2 years
While Rawlings couldn’t do it in 19 years

When he came in 1979
There was no bloodshed in Ghana
He brought violence and bloodshed
Soldiers openly and freely brutalized us
The Castle/ BNI became torture chambers
Today he has patented violence in Ghana
The looming violence of the last election
Was born out of Rawlings’ threat to all
Either the NDC won or mass violence

When he came in 1979
Wee-smoking was an anathema, secretive
The masses learnt that he smoked wee
Wow if the head of state smoked wee
The mesmerized youth did what he did
And today drug use has lost its stigma
Wee is nothing and cocaine is nothing

ACT 2: 1979 THE YEAR GHANA DIED
So the King of Kings arrived in 1979
Hungry, destitute, and angry-looking
Surrounded by pseudo intellectuals
Who had never published any work
Who masqueraded as socialists at Legon
Who wore thread-bare tie-&-dye to class
Who mouthed rights, equality, freedoms
The Tsikatas, Ahwois, Botchways, Mills
The ostensible poverty-induced socialists
Who dabbled in Marxian madness
Overnight became vampire capitalists
And loved good food and expensive wines
They administered the kangaroo courts
That sent hundreds to their deaths
That sent thousands to prisons of death
And millions also took to frightened flights
When the king slaughtered three judges
Mills and Tsikata the hollow law profs
Never protested the murder of the judges
Never said no to the victimization of women
That led to whipping women in genitalia
They enjoyed the cries of Makola women
Savored the agonies of rape victims
Never said no to democratization of violence
Never said no to broken-bottle haircuts
Never said no to opponents drinking cement
Never said no to the beating of Arkaah
Never said no the impoverization of Limann
Overnight Tsikatas, Ahwois, Botchways
Shed their socialist-tailored uniforms
And wore Italian-made suits and shoes
Instead of walking in lorry-tire footwear
They floated in expensive Italian footwear
Opportunists joined the PDCs & WDCs
Yes the Dan Agbodakpis and E. T. Mensahs
Never understood Socialism and its jargons
But used socialism to acquire filthy wealth

ACT 3: RAWLINGS – THE HOLLOW CHILD
PNDC mangled the ecomini
Even Kutu Acheampong was a god
With his Operation Feed Yourself
Rawlings mangled the ecomini
Could not account for the 50-cedi notes
Could not account for seized properties
Could not account for food shortages
Could not account for petrol shortages
Could not account for soaring inflation
Could not account for wanton violence
Could not account for death squads
Could not account for Ms. Cotton woman
Who chose to plant rice in her inner thighs
Rawlings has not accounted for anything
Not in his mother’s home
Not in Achimota school
Not in the air force
Not in the slave castle
Where he beat up Arkaah for fun
Not in the three bungalows at Ridge
Where his mosquito friends live
Well he has one achievement
And it is called the INDEMNITY CLAUSE
To cover up all his bastardization actions
The UNprobity, UNaccountability, etc.
Cowards die many times before their time
JJ Rawlings is long dead and snoring
And words from his bulbous nose
Smells like a bouquet of putrefaction
Like poisoned fish in the Korle Lagoon
It is not good for public consumption

*Akadu N. Mensema is a proud Denkyira beauty. She is a trained oral historian and sociologist, and is a Professor in the USA. She writes what critics have called “populist hyperbolic, satirical” poetry. She can be reached at akadumensema@yahoo.com