If you are Amanfo and you happened to be in the Form Two Latin class of Mr Graham, sometime 1960-61, you would remember his knuckle knocks on the head anytime you failed one of those verb or declension drills. If you got ego, me, mei, mihi, me or tu, te, tui, tibi, te wrong, you could expect that hard knock. For me, who used to suffer the post-koko breakfast sleep effect, I couldn’t completely escape the knock.

I am talking memorising Latin phrases, expressions, sentences and passages. Mr Graham would occasionally call you to recite or repeat them. Therefore, everyone would go through his class memorising some of those. I still recollect the ‘Hodie est feriae (today is holiday’) and ‘Abite domum (Go home)’ a teacher told his pupils.

There was a saying, I memorised, which I easily recall because of its recurring relevance in my journey of living a life. A farmer, by way of advice to his son to stay away from bad company counselled him: ‘Poma mala maculant bona, certe mali amici maculabunt puerum bonum (Bad apples spoil good apples. Certainly, bad friends would spoil good boys).

The battle for equality of the sexes, gender balance, is not an easy one.

Yet, just like if you take along sheep to harvest anwonomo (the sweet-aroma leaf for wrapping Osino graphic), the sheep would be chewing the leaves away as you pluck, there are those women who pull the gender equality struggle back as others push it ahead. They are the spoilers who by their selfish exploits would do everything to tarnish the name of womanhood.

I see not how rallying behind someone who insists upon tearing a motherland down (but for a justice woman determined to stop the tear its tracks), helps the cause of gender. If compatriots haven’t noticed, congress womanhood, in general, has become a drawback for the woman’s cause.

The judgment debt debacle, including the Woyome millions yet to be collected back after the court ruling to that effect, was a woman’s act. Actually, it has become the unmet responsibility of a woman to take the money back.

Children with disabilities had their schools closed while a known woman advocate for the cause of women and children sat duty derelict by watching without showing concern with cheeks full.

Our affairs with other motherlands have suffered under the incompetence and nonperforming hands of a congresswoman.

Another congresswoman was the architect in a scheme that robbed the motherland of millions of dollars and cedis over the painting of pictures of a president on buses bought with taxpayer money.

There was money for that when there was no money for school feeding or capitation grant. Merciless acts have occurred with the hands of other congresswomen.

Of course, from Nana Yaa Asantewaa through Esther Afua Nkulenu Ocloo, women have been at the forefront of the struggle to liberate the motherland from poverty, ignorance and disease. Osono women stood tall along with their men and with compassion to introduce school feeding, NHIS, MMT, capitation grant, free maternity care, LEAP and NYEP.

The congress women, contrarily, have been stealing from the state what would be used to support the vulnerable in our midst.

It’s been waste of money and thievery of all the common fund and oil money which could have been injected into alleviating the poverty of women and children of the motherland.

Any woman party to that is not worth defence because she is a spoiler of gender advocacy. She is the woman who is undermining women, their status, capacity and ability which, as amply demonstrated, sometimes surpass those of men.

But that is not to say people who use bad language on radio cannot be checked. It is just a matter of concurrent admonition for akura (mouse), the one privileged to be availed the microphone space, to leave momone (stinking fish) subject of talk, alone. I have already cited a woman determined to do right to stop she who wants to destroy the motherland. I disapprove media badmouthing.

That is why I would want to thank IMANI that a ‘kill the judge’ congressperson could rot in jail.

Lingua Latina was an alternative to Twi. That is, either you studied Twi or you studied Latin.

I had no idea about the implications of that for the promotion and growth of our indigenous culture and the moulding of our personalities. If that was how we were being prepared to be useful citizens to our motherland by promoting growth and development, our current stagnation and looting public funds bear full testimony of the less than usefulness of that schooling.

Let not promoting gender issues be confused with cutting a dysfunctional bloated ego woman know-all, but actually little to size. Watch the congress ungendered women’s squad.