*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“President John Mahama says his critics should be patient with his government because the bus of his administration is currently travelling in its ‘first gear.’ President Mahama told a gathering at Awutu Senya in the Central Region on Friday that he will soon change to 2nd, 3rd and 4th gear to accelerate developments in the country” (Ghanaweb, October 25, 2013)

BOY: Eh! Massa
MASSA: Boy, how now
BOY: I dey for first gear Massa
MASSA: Ha ha haa Boy we all dey first gear
BOY: Massa na true oh na true first gear we dey
MASSA: Yes, Mahama take us for reckless ride
BOY: Mahama dey reverse Ghana in first gear, gear
MASSA: First gear for everywhere, anytime, anything

Our akomfem is in first gear flight
Our akomfem in first gear spiral
Falling
Tumbling
Plummeting
Dropping
On his own sword of incompetence
Mahama has remained in first gear
Reversing Ghana in first gear
Mahama is unraveling
Unfolding like a cheap suitcase
Breaking apart like akomfem excreta
Unshackling failure
Tyrannizing orthodoxy of failure

Our akomfem is chirping
Chirping
Quacking
Barking
Empty platitudes
Stuck in first gear
The sedentary conscience of an akomfem
Trapped
Stalled
Halted
Dithered
Hedged
Ensnared
Wedged
Frozen in the savannah landscape
Northernalizing government
Impoverishing society

BOY: Everywhere, MASSA, we dey first gear
MASSA: Yes oh! Flat road
BOY: First gear
MASSA: Yes oh! Pothole road
BOY: First gear
MASSA: Yes oh! Hilly road
BOY: First gear
MASSA: Yes oh! Mountain road
BOY: First gear
MASSA: Yes oh! Steep road
BOY: First gear

BOY: My turn MASSA
MASSA: Go first gear
BOY: Mahama akomfem in flight
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama SADA tree planting
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama wooing Woyome
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama Turkey gold
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama medical scholarship in Cuba
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama election fraud
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama GYEEDA
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama Dumso
MASSA: First gear
BOY: Mahama Subah Infosolutions Limited
MASSA: First gear

Our akomfem in first gear flight
Our akomfem in first gear spiral
Falling
Tumbling
Plummeting
Dropping
On his own sword of incompetence
Mahama has remained in first gear
Reversing Ghana in gear speed
Mahama is unraveling
Unfolding like a cheap suitcase
Breaking apart like akomfem excreta
Unshackling failure

*Akadu Ntiriwa 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. All my poems and essays on
Ghanaweb and elsewhere must not be reproduced in full or in part for any academic or
scholarly work without my written permission.