*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

The Director of Operations at the presidency, Nii Lante Vanderpuije has thrown a
challenge to the Rawlingses to quit the NDC for the 2012 elections and see whether the party will not win the elections… Nii Lante said the ruling party was tired of the persistent outbursts of the Rawlingses against the government. He vowed to defy Rawlings anytime he attacks the Mills government... Speaking at the 30th Anniversary ceremony of the 31st December Women’s Movement, on Tuesday, Rawlings described some government functionaries as traitors who have betrayed the cause of the NDC... [and] bemoaned what he described as unprecedented monetization of the political space perpetrated by members of his own party in government (Abridged from Ghanaweb, April
17, 2012)

JJ has come into his own
In a full circle
In a concentric circle
Possessed, flaying
Foaming at the mouth
Brandishing Ridge Fire
Bellowing smoke
In a full circle
The NDC is in the circle
In JJ’s full circle
Trapped in a full circle
In a full circle
Circling Mills in the circle
NDC must cheer JJ
For circling Mills
Ah! Demonizing Mills
Ah! Criminalizing Mills
In a full circle
When JJ demonized Liman
The NDC cheered JJ
When JJ demonized Arkaah
The NDC cheered JJ
When JJ demonized Kufour
The NDC cheered JJ

LET’S CHEER JJ RAWLINGS
FOR DEMONIZING MILLS
The NDC is in a full circle
Ah! JJ is demonizing Mills
And the NDC won’t cheer JJ
Ah! Mills is a lost soul
The NDC won’t cheer
In a full circle
In concentric circle
On behalf of Mills

JJ has come into his own
NDC has come into its own
In a full circle
In concentric circles
Of demonization
Of holier-than-thou
Circles that entombed others
When it entombed Liman
The P/NDC cheered
When it entombed Arkaah
The NDC cheered
When it entombed Kufour
The NDC cheered

Today JJ’s full circle
Has come into its NDC
Concentric circles
Of TRAITOR-ing
Has gripped Mills

JJ has come into his own
In a full circle
The NDC is in the circle
In JJ’s full circle
Gripped in a full dance
In a full circle
Circling a full circle
NDC must cheer JJ
In the full circle
As JJ circles Mills

JJ has come into his own
Foaming in a full circle
In a circle of watershed
Of withering bouquets
Of shriveling garland
JJ Rawlings
In a full circle
Of hypocrisy
Of pomposity
Of pretentiousness
Of self-righteousness
Of sanctimoniousness

JJ has come into his own
In a full circle
The NDC is in the circle
In JJ’s full circle
Gripped in a full dance
In a full circle
Circling a full circle
NDC must cheer JJ
In a full circle
As he demonizes Mills

*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

**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.