JUDGEMENT DAY WAHALA: THE TURN OF EVENTS

The much anticipated judgement day has come and gone. But wait not the biblical one but Ghana’s 2012 election petition.

Guess who was in court on judgement day, the nine member panel of judges, the petitioners and their lawyers and the respondents and their lawyers. Is that all? No. some of their loyalists also made it to court.

But I’m quite sure you are disappointed the president John Mahama whose legitimacy is being challenge was not present, well, it could be because he was glued to his LED television set sipping his favourite drink .The contrast however, is that Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo the leader of the main opposition party was in court but couldn’t have a sip of a drink.

On a more serious note, since the beginning of the historic hearing of the election petition, I have personally made a pledge not to comment on the procedure of the court mainly perhaps due to the sanctions that accompany comments that are seen to be contemptuous.

Alas our airwaves will be relieved of pertinence tribal discussions that do not  address the bread and butter issue but only serve as a catalyst to divide us and worsen our already polarized nation.

Lives that could have been at various emergency centres across the country are busily about their normal duties and properties that have been acquired over the years are safe for their owners. 

You might as well disagree with how some contempt cases were handled especially at the crucial end of the case and how some sections of the media almost use it in their favour to paint their political opponents black.

You might not like the verdict, but let me ask you:  what else were you expecting?

Sorry to learn that your political party didn’t win but at least Ghana won. 

The verdict did not only relieve us of the seemingly strain situation across the country but it has also strengthened our judicial system. Believe it or not for the judiciary, hearing the election petition was a golden opportunity to prove all of us wrong about the increasing impression of corruption within that arm of government.

Hugely, I believe Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo have exhibited maturity and statesmanship in handling the verdict of the nine member panel of the Supreme Court. Surprisingly his reaction to the verdict was contrary to most popular opinions gathered that he may not accept the verdict hence throwing the nation into catastrophe. 

Well I don’t know if you are impressed about the handling of the case by the nine member panel of judges but I am. I am, because a lot of tact, wisdom and humour have been woven to drive home the sanctity of the legal system in Ghana.

But will the end of eight months long political court battle restore investor confidence in the Ghanaian economy? Perhaps time will tell.

ACHEBE HAS GONE A PLACE OF ALL MEN

Today mother earth will receive another illustrious son of Africa. A son who spoke louder than the chiming of a bird in the wilderness for repentance. The bowel of the earth is full of many genre of a kind but you are an exception. The Achebe of Things Fall Apart has indeed fallen. 

If works do speak may they speak in your favor as you embark on a journey of all men.  Greet Okonkwo, Ezeulu , Odili and the rest of the people you envisioned when you birth the dawn of literature in Africa. 

I am a firm believer in life after death but those who share in that life is not for me to decide. But if you do qualify, which i pray you do i will not hesitate to put my desire to master the art to write to your mentorship.

 Many of your writings particularly Things Fall Apart (Which I have read) depict the challenges posed to African societies by modernism and Western influence. It details the plight of three educated upper-class Africans attempting to survive in an atmosphere of political oppression and cultural confusion. Set in the fictional African country of Kangan, it is clearly patterned after your native Nigeria, though one can also see elements of Liberia and Ghana which clearly show how cross boundary your thinking was.

 “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”

Sleep well Chinua Achebe or better still Albert Chinualumogu Achebe RIP

THE PLIGHT OF AN ILLITERATE VOTER

Just about the best thing that can happen to any developing nation troubled with several coup d’état is to had few successful democratic elections devoid of violence. That happened over a decade ago.

But the most amazing thing about this thriving democracy is not about the continuous effort of the iterate voter not to commit electoral crime but the conscious effort of the illiterate voter to avoid electoral crime.

Madam. Akua Koranteng’s story began when she was still in her hay days in a remote Ghanaian village unreachable by road.

Amedeka one of the few villages resettled by the Volta River Authority during the construction of the Kpong Hydro Electric Dam in the 1970s is the village that Akua and her family were born without any fault of theirs.

A town whose future does not seem bright but bleak: not even the existent of the Kpong dam for the past three decades could rewrite their folk tale.

But the linkage of Ms. Koranteng’s present status and her village is the huge deficit in her development as compared to those who live in the township.

Her contemporaries boasts of good drinking water, motorable roads, and descent accommodations.

For her, where she live is where she could afford but what she drink and the education of her children are what her elected officials afforded her.

On my way to conduct this interview, I was greeted by a thin stretched pathway which you may decide to call a road with numerous potholes that could dislocate ones joint after traveling on it.

Upon arriving in Amedeka, I decided to tour the whole village and it took me less than an hour to finish my tour, what I saw ignited tears down my chins.

While standing under a tree believed to be the rallying point of the whole village where arbitration and issues affecting the village is resolved, I chanced on Akua Koranteng a mother of ten.

Our conversation centered mainly on what I saw within the one hour I have been in the town.

One thing I noticed from the conversation with Akua was bitterness. Bitterness not against her husband or kinsmen but against the state.

Her dilemma until she met me was whether it is the government’s responsibility to develop their area or the Volta River Authority.

After nearly thirty minutes of explanation to Akua she realized that they have been denied their share of development.

To Akua since the VRA operates in their locality and has relocated them it was their responsibility to fix their roads and provide them with the needed amenities which would make life easier for them.

She narrated her ordeal to me prior to the election:

“On the day of election I had to wake up very early to cast my vote in order to have time to go to the farm” she indicated.

We were told lives will improve for us the moment the elections were over.

Hopes against hope we queued to vote for a leader who will turn our mourning into laughter. She said.

So I asked ‘has your story changed after the elections?”

She nodded her head and then burst into tears. Then she whispered we have been deceived.

Akua just like many of her contemporaries in rural Ghana believes politicians whether past or present have thrown dust into their eyes. 

Their sorry nature have become a gold mine for people who pretend to have their developmental plight at heart, they come to them in a sheep’s cloth only for them to find out that they are wolfs after all.

The main road through Akuse to Amedeka has been washed away by rain in the past and nothing seems to be done about it. 

The worry of the village folks however is how bad the road will further deteriorate since the rains just started pouring in.

They have no idea where help would come from. After nearly over an hour and half chat with Akua, it was clear the only thing that matter to her is the future of her village. She wants to see the children in her village have access to quality education; farmers just like her have access to good road. 

In a later write up i will talk about my personal advice to village folks who may be going through the same trauma. The myriad complexities of Amedeka may not necessarily defer from other remote and remotest areas in this country.

Was 2012 a tornado in a bottle?

Sorry  I should have brought this your way about three months ago but first things first lol

Anyway have a read!

When the clouds are full of water they empty themselves upon the earth says the good book and just like the clouds, 2012 was full of all kinds of events.

For some, the aspiration to new heights, for many it was the beginning of new hopes for me the realization of the commencement of a life long journey.

Prior to 2012 I had a tall list of aspirations I had wanted to accomplish without taken into cognizant any unforeseen challenges.

The year 2012 for me in this part of the world (Ghana) would be remembered as the year in which a sitting president kicked the bucket. A psychological trauma I pray do not rear its ugly head.

The memories of H.E John Evans Attah Mills a former president of Ghana would take a long time to erased especially if you happen to have come close to him as i did few years ago while he was still in office as president of our republic.

The demise of an Africa leader whose life did not only epitomized the true reflection of a statesmanship but worth imitating was but the darkest moment in our life as a nation.

 The year 2012 brought with it the popularity of Judgment debt, a phenomenon hitherto was relatively unknown to the masses of the people but significantly known to the elitist class who use it as a mean of enriching themselves.

Woyome a name otherwise was within the circus of its family and friends became synonymous to judgment debt and corruption; a case which is still pending within the law courts of Ghana.

As if that was not enough there came the popular call by a member of parliament for Assin North Kennedy Agyarpong for Gas and Ewes to be killed a declaration which has since been known as the “Agyarpong declaration”

That same year 2012 perhaps was the birth of the destiny of another “John” A john who until the demise of a president was the vice president of our great nation, from afar, it was a moment of mixed feelings when a certain John Dramani Mahama has to become a president hitherto he was a vice president.

Personally I believe his ascension to the high office was an inspiration to me a child of a common teacher who until then believes divinity play a very insignificant role in our politics especially when it comes to the presidency. I always held the view that without power brokers and indefatigable political godfathers one could not have chalk that success of becoming a president but God has his own plans.

Another trying time for deepening the democratic credentials of our beloved country in 2012 was the presidential and parliamentary elections held on 7^th December, an election which was fiercely contested with both ideologies and policies was seen by many as a determinant in consolidating our democratic gains over the years.

Again I had fears, fears that bring shiver down my whole being as though the second coming of Jesus was a second away.

My fears were not based on a fact that we were not doing something right but for the mere fact that we are humans and fallibility could not have eluded us. 

However we made it. We made it by electing a leader without a single record of violent bringing the carpet down on the year 2012.

The year 2012 actually did come to a close. To me it did not really matter whether my dreams were achieved but what matters most to me was the mere fact that I have not stop dreaming.

I missed 2012 because just like 2011 with 11/11/11, 2012 also brought along 12/12/12 wish was very significant but would never come again since it has evaporated into a historical oblivion.

But while we continue to cherish the historical dates that came with the years 2011 and 2012, there are certain historical events that you and I may never ever wish to experience in our life time.

Would you want to see another sitting president die or better still see tribes rising against each other as a result of a loose statement by a politician?

Time will surely  tell.

(c) Nathaniel Ekue-Mensah