Published on February 14, 2009
Harmattan is a perfect weather for these transitional times. What the two have in common are dust and unpredictability. Everyday, it appears, there’s some hot news. No matter what else is going on in your personal life, don’t miss early morning radio talk shows, as well as mid-day and 6 pm news. They are power-packed and juicy. Yummy! These are fascinating times to be alive in Ghana. But, stay clear of trouble! FYI: This is the 36th day of President Mills’ 100-Day Honeymoon.
Daddy Matters: On becoming President, Professor Mills assured Ghanaians that he would be president and father to us all. I’m a fatherless child so I gladly accepted the Daddy offer. So it’s official: my Daddy is a President. Hurrah! Daddy, my mother is ‘Eve’ Beatrice Naa Agyele Ansah Israel of Obosomase.
Here are a few honest innocent enduring questions to my Daddy the President, from a good daughter of Eve. Does the founder and father of Daddy’s party, ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, come under the Daddy umbrella? Or he is excluded and rather, is father to Prez Mills? Does this country now have two co-fathers? Or, there is a father and a grandfather?
How is Daddy managing Rawlings’ boom talks? As an ex-professor, when would Daddy profess something about this troubling matter that, like a bad sore, is growing on us? Daddy, I own a beautiful ‘akapompo’ (academic gown) and would gladly lend it to you to wear and look very imposing on the D-Day you profess to ex-Prez Rawlings. I offer to be your cheer leader, just a silly little fly on the wall. Suggestion: You guys should handle family matters privately. This country urgently needs you to show us, without a grain of doubt, that you are your ‘own man’.
Castle or Jubilee House? It appears that the Golden Jubilee House will remain a ‘White Elephant’ for several years. Why? An interesting additional estimate of GH¢12 million is needed to complete it. Damn! How the NDC administration would justify that expenditure remains to be seen, especially since “Ghana is broke”.
How about if we turn it into a tourist attraction? Every car that drives in front should pay tolls since passengers stare at it. Every look at our white elephant should be at a cost. Or, better still, it should be handed over to the Tourist Board for people to enter and pay for seeing the insides of the edifice.
I had been waiting for my President to engage in co-habitation in a palace. I had hoped, in my wildest dreams, to sneak in to drink tea – sorry, cocoa! I was planning to tour the palace and look around so I’ll have stories to share with my two grand daughters. But lo and behold, my Daddy President moved into the slave castle. The palace is too controversial. They say that Professor President is a very simple kind of guy and not the type who will get overly excited about palaces. So our 60 plus million Ghana cedis went down the tubes? That really hurts.
The Osu Castle will remain the seat of Government for a long time to come. Since it was built by the Dutch in 1652 and used for trading in gold, ivory and slaves, how many people have lost their lives in that castle and their bodies thrown into the sea? Sweet Jesus! I see ghosts! I see dead people! Scary! How many women have been raped in that castle? How many unwanted pregnancies? How many dirty slaps from high and mighty leaders have landed painfully on the tender cheeks of many low and sorry everyday-people?
Ayariga and Presidential-Speak: Mr Ayariga has taken the art of speaking on behalf of a person to a level that is at once overwhelming and abusive. Anytime he refers to President Mills, he precedes it with, “His Excellency, the President”. He really speaks the man. Ayariga is a Mills-speaker. He is almost inside the mouth of the President. The President doesn’t have to speak because Ayariga has got his mouth. Did GIMPA organize a workshop for him on how to excel at this art? Well, then all Ghanaians should attend the same workshop so we can all be on the same page.
Fact: The presidency is not a chief’s palace. And Ayariga is not the linguist of the chief. Too much of “His Excellency, the President” sounds like hero worshipping. Already, we do too much of hero-worshipping so we do not need Ayariga to entrench it further in our psyche. Because we tend to worship our leaders, we are disabled from asking them the tough questions that will keep them on their toes, and do right by Ghana. When you’re so beholden to someone and place him/her on a mighty throne, how do you hold him/her accountable?
Ayariga is wearing me out. However, despite the irritation of over-doing the Mills-speak, he is a fresh voice on the presidential spokesperson scene. He sounds like a sweet soul, even a sweetheart. Not too long ago, ex-President Kufuor had a spokesman by name of Andrew Awuni. He wore me out – with arrogance. So Ayariga, beyond over-doing “His Excellency, the President, please don’t you ever change. Keep it this slow and sweet and soft for us.
Sexism in Parliament: During the vetting of Akua Sena Dansua as Minister of Women and Children Affairs, two male parliamentarians shamelessly displayed sexism in their line of questioning. It is scandalous that our law-makers would make an issue out of Akua’s low-cropped ‘unpermed’ natural hair cut. Fact: a hair cut is definitely a non-occupational issue. That question was not just silly, but must be illegal.
What has a woman‘s hair cut got to do with anything? Isn’t it enough that a woman, despite all the numerous odds, has done much for herself and is boldly rubbing shoulders with men in high places? Must she also keep her hair in a way that fits in with parliamentarian’s perceptions of what a woman should look like? Surprisingly, neither the Appointments Committee’s Chairman nor any of the members raised an objection to such a low-cost line of questioning. Parliamentarians, please allow ’the daughters of Eve’ to just be. They are too engendered in your midst.
Prison Reform: Tsatsu Tsikata is God’s gift for prison reform. From his misfortune and pain of spending five months at Nsawam Prison, Ghana will have a relentlessly passionate advocate for the unfortunate forgotten voiceless who are languishing in stinky holes.
Dead Frog: It’s really true that it’s only when a frog dies that you can tell its true length. The dead frog – the NPP administration – has been dead for only 36 days and its super long ugly legs are sticking out in the streets. The rottenness which had remained hidden in the folded legs of the erstwhile living frog, are being exposed day-by-day.
The roll-out of the frog legs are paraded in stories of corruption, favouritism and nepotism. Take for instance, the story of ‘affordable houses’ meant for low- and middle-income workers, some of which were shared among NPP leaders and side-kicks. Ghana, this fine lady, has become the victim of multiple gang rape.
Meanwhile, we wait for change to happen. Hail, Change!
dorisdartey@yahoo.com
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