At The Churchill Hyatt Regency Hotel

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

It was almost as if to resoundingly remind Ghana's embattled president that however far away from the land of great warrior-kings he flees or runs, Mr. John Dramani Mahama cannot hide. Another quite plausible interpretation of the widely reported chance encounter between Messrs. Akufo-Addo and Mahama could be that the former was simply around to remind the latter that when it comes to roaming the streets and dining in the poshest restaurants of Brittania's ancient capital city of London, the 2012 presidential candidate of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and soon-to-be commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the boss.

To be certain, Nana Akufo-Addo was a resident of London long before his arch-political rival was born. The preceding, however, is not the thrust of this missive; rather, the aim here is deafeningly to put paid to vicious rumors and innuendoes being circulated by partisans of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by their general-secretary and inveterate Akufo-Addo baiter, Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia.

In essence, the latter and his unconscionable horde of hoodlums have been spreading foul words to the effect that Nana Akufo-Addo was gravely indisposed and thus could implicitly not assume the august and democratic reins of governance, in the highly likely event of the NPP's 2012 presidential election petition being resoundingly vindicated by the Atuguba-presided panel of Supreme Court jurists hearing the same (See "Prez Mahama Bumps Into Akufo-Addo At A Restaurant" New Crusading Guide/Ghanaweb.com 6/17/13).

As already intimated, the caption of the news article carrying the burden of the aforesaid encounter between the two political rivals does not quite accurately capture what actually transpired. In reality, it was Nana Akufo-Addo, trolling the streets and watering-holes of his old haunts, who "accidentally bumped into" the politically embattled Mr. John Dramani Mahama; Ghana's former foreign minister and his wife, nee Rebecca Griffiths-Randolph, were relishing a sumptuous meal at the Churchill Hyatt Regency Hotel, we are reliably told, when King Claudius barged in with his entourage of paranoid hangers-on.

Anyway, King Claudius was also reported to have coincidentally taken up lodging or abode in the Churchill Hyatt Regency Hotel; most dignitaries of enviable democracies, it is significant to note, prefer to lodge at the residence of their diplomatic missions. At any rate, this tired riddle of the great ancient river crossing the equally great and ancient path, and vice versa, is totally beside the point. Rather, what matters here, is the clearly inescapable fact that these two political thoroughbreds are likely to be crossing paths for a remarkable span of time to come.

As for the "reciprocal" mantra of "All-Die-Be-Die," it is just what it says; which is that it is squarely about the steely determination of the relatively far more peace-loving scions and adherents of the immutable democratic principles of Messrs. Danquah, Dombo and Busia never to be taken for granted and a ride ever again.

However, if misguidedly forced to it, "All-Die-Be-Die" could readily be transformed into a double-fronted diplomatic signal of unrelentingly retaliatory military ordnance. But, of course, the latter stage of the Akufo-Addo Revolution may only be surgically applied in retractable self-defense, should the need so arise - and such need could poignantly arise only if the unconscionable and cynical Rawlings posse of goons crudely resorts to what it is known to uniquely do best: which is to gratuitously apply military intimidation tactics in order to have their way.

We are no sons and daughters of cowards. Now, that is the best interpretation of "All-Die-Be-Die"; never again to judicial ethnic cleansing with impunity! This is no empty boast! Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNY
Garden City, New York
June 17, 2013
E-mail: [email protected]