Fire Coach Milo: He Wouldn’t Celebrate Our African Victory

*Dedicated to the Black Stars of Africa, especially Dede Ayew, the man of the match.

**By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

Milovan Rajevac wouldn’t celebrate with us
The coach was sad when Ghana won
He looked defeated when Serbia lost
Scratched his imperious head
Turned bluish in anger
As if his dream had failed
As if Ghana shouldn’t have won
He turned away in shame
And snubbed his bench
Snubbed Ghanaian officials
Who wanted to congratulate him
Who wanted to celebrate our victory
He sobbed openly in his heart
Because his Serbia lost the match

Pay Jones Attuquayefio
Pay Silas Tetteh
Pay local coaches
Half of what Milosevic is paid
Give local coaches pride & place
Give them national support
And local coaches would deliver
Jones Attuquayefio
Silas Tetteh
Would dance to our kpalango
Dance to our kpalango victory
Dance to our victory songs
Would celebrate with Ghanaians
Would empower all Ghanaians

Coach Milo
Bedecked with a kente tie
As if he loves Ghana
Flanked by bedazzled Ghanaians
Subservient Ghanaian officials
And his paid white interpreter
Fattened by fat salaries
Beyond the dreams of Ghanaians
Sobbed openly in his heart
Because Serbia lost the match

The arrogant Serbian Milo
Shows us his nationalism
Love for country
Love of country
Shows us our neocolonialism
Shows us our love for whiteness
Shows us our self-hate
Of self-hating blackness
Of self-hating our capabilities
Of hating our Africanity
Even in the postcolony
Of our independence
He shows us our depreciation
Depreciation of the self
Of our blackness
Of privileging whiteness

Best coaches are hired
To coach soccer teams
All over the world
But in Ghana we hire white coaches
Not because of their rich experience
Not because they are the best
We hire white coaches
Simply the West is the best
Our ingrained mentality
Our evergreen neocolonialism
In the postcolony of our doom
Where we like to love whiteness
Where we hate our blackness
Where we depreciate our Africanity

So we hired Milo
An abysmal Serbian coach
Who is riding high
High on Ghanaian talent
To cover his mediocre skills
He is among the highest paid
Cars at his beck and call
Official residence
Travel expenses paid
Free Ghanaian servants
All at this beck & call

Milo is a disgrace
Disgrace to our African victory
A symptom of our mentality
That whiteness is superior
Whiteness that ridicules
Ridicules our kpalongo
Shames our voices of victory
This postcolony of neocolonialism
Of the undoing our independence
Is our perpetual bondage
Bondage to foreign things
Of whiteness couched as superior

**Akadu N. 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 [email protected]