*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“J. J. Rawlings has poured indignation at what he says is vote-buying by some
leading members of the NDC ahead of the national delegates congress to decide
who leads the party to the 2012 general elections. The practice, he said, was
not only alien but dangerous to the health of the party, which was founded on
the ideals of integrity and transparency” (Ghanaweb, April 5, 2011).

“J. J. Rawlings has again repeated his claim that the Presidency is using money
and intimidation tactics to threaten and intimidate members of the Nana Konadu
camp. The incidents of bribery and intimidation, he says, are alien to the NDC
and could lead to the party’s defeat in the 2012 General elections if President
Mills is elected on those grounds” (Ghanaweb May 17, 2011)

If Mills wins
JJ & Konadu will wield flowers
If Mills loses
JJ & Konadu will wield flowers
JJ & Konadu are building a case
Crafting a new nest of deceit
The case of Mills’ vote-buying
Their unraveling of illusion
Of grandeur of lost power
Of sycophantic adulation
Of subservient thieves
Of raucous chants of JJ JJ

JJ is lying to passive Ghanaians
NDC under JJ’s rule bought votes
They gave all their all to voters
DDT to Asante cocoa farmers
Easter celebration cards to Kwahus
Chamber-pots to Gas to use at the beach
Bicycles to impoverished “Northerners”
Yesterday’s chop-bar fufu to Krobos
Bleaching creams to Kotokoraba women
Bleaching creams to Kejetia women
Bleaching creams to Makola women
Fermented pito to Nima dwellers
Cutlasses to warring Konkombas
Machetes to warring Nanumbas
White singlets to Anlos
Palm-wine to Akyems
Sugar/milk to Fantes
Bibles to Akuapems

Ah! JJ and Konadu are at it
Crafting their owl narrative
Erecting copious caveats
Of Mills’ vote-buying stance
Of Mills’ intimidating stance
Foraging for a way out of trance
Out of an endless tunnel conceit
Endless tunnel of self-deceit
Building a straw man of conceit
In a kiln of a FIREMAN’s deceit
Poised for excusable defeat
JJ is wielding his amnesia
The disease of megalomaniacs

Ghanaians now know JJ
The sanctimonious JJ Rawlings
Rawlings is sadly unraveling
Like a dried Keta school boy
Like a dried fish in hot water
JJ is unscrambling the self
The Dzelukope chameleon
On a thin slippery precipice
The chameleon of many tricks
Kutu & co must be laughing
Demonized Liman is vindicated
“Ata Ayi” Kufour is a saint

Afflicted with amnesia
In a terrain of selective memory
His watershed of megalomania
JJ calls non-bastards bastards
Forgetting that he is THE bastard
JJ imputes murder to others
Forgetting that he is THE murderer
JJ calls others greedy bastards
Forgetting that he is THE greedy one
JJ accuses others of vote-buying
Forgetting that he bought THE votes

JJ claims vote-buying is alien
Alien to his who-born-dog NDC
But JJ and NDC bought votes
In 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008
From chiefs
From miners
From farmers
From masons
From the TUC
From fishermen
From prostitutes
From the NUGS
From the GNAT
From the GPRTU

From market women

JJ your probity
Your accountability
Your transparency
Have long departed
You wear the crown of lies
Of walking contradictions
JJ is lying again
JJ is like the vulture
After a bloody carcass meal
Cleans its bloody beak
Preens its carcass-ed feathers
Flutters its wings to the world
Flatters the sky with innocence
Yet smells of yesterday’s carcass

*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