Has the Myth of the "Northern Hope" Been Exposed?

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

The Ghanaweb.com newsstory, sourced to Citifmonline.com, named the newly appointed Northern Regional Minister as Mr. Limuna Mohammed Mumuni; but a Google search brought up the name of Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru (See "Prez Mahama Is Not Tribalistic - N/R Minister" 4/1/14). I am hereby assuming that this is not an "April Fool's" executive appointment. I nearly always get fooled by April-Fool's stories almost every year, because in the Presbyterian-Christian home in which I was born and raised, making a mockery of our "Christian Passion" or the "Passion of Christ" was an abominable crime that earned the culprit at least six lashes of the willow cane from my maternal grandfather, the Rev. T. H. Sintim (1896-1982), of Akyem-Asiakwa and Begoro. For that is what April Fool's Day is squarely about.

It tells the tragic, albeit redemptive, story of the moment, following his juridical condemnation by the kangaroo court of "Justice" Pontius Pilate to death by crucifixion, and him being forced to carry the cross to Golgotha (or Skull) Mountain just outside the Holy City of Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago. Among the horrendous ordeals endured by Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was him being blindfolded and rained upon with torrents of blows by ideological detractors who dared him to identify his assailants if, indeed, he was the much prophesied Son of God he, in the words of his tormentors, falsely claimed to be. He would also be spat upon, as well as have mucus and snot squirted into his face and the rest of his body.

What brings me here, and presently, though is Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru's widely reported rejection of accusations by his fellow Northerners that it clearly appears that when it comes to the appointment of cabinet members, President John Dramani Mahama pretends as if the entire Northern Region of Ghana - and on the latter score, such description also includes both the Upper-East and Upper-West regions - is composed of Gonjas.

Now, this is a very serious accusation, because the largest ethnic sub-polity in the Northern Region is the Dagomba, and not the Gonja. Then also, the northern-half of our country is composed of more than twenty ethnic polities. We must also hasten to point out the fact that during the hectic 2012 presidential election campaign, the Bole-Bamboi-born Mr. Mahama was widely reported to have stated that he was the only and last hope for the rapid and massive development of the three northern regions.

What makes the foregoing accusation worthy of our deliberation is the indisputable fact that when it comes to the power-grabbing season "candied/candified mendacities," the President behaves as if the northern-half of Ghana was largely composed of a homogeneous group of people. In other words, what his accusers seem to be saying is that once he is privileged or glorified with the assumption of the reins of governance, "Little Dramani" behaves as if the only northerners best qualified to be entrusted with cardinal cabinet portfolios are exclusively his own kinsmen and women - the Gonjas.

Well, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru hotly disputes the foregoing accusation and ripostes that there are only three cabinet appointees in the Mahama government who are of Gonja descent. Now, that is a lot of Gonjas, especially when one also pro-rates the latter number with the percentage of Gonjas among the general population of Ghana. I have also yet to count the number of cabinet portfolios created by the Mahama-led government of the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC), but I am very certain of the accuracy of my observation.

For starters, President Mahama is also our Chief Minister of State. This makes the number of Gonja cabinet appointees in his government four, not three, as vehemently claimed by Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru. Then also, reliable legend has it that the recent seemingly whimsical and capricious musical chairs which the President so mischievously presumed to play with his regional ministerial appointees, was actually a tactical attempt to parry off blistering accusations by some of his northern-descended political opponents and detractors that "Little Dramani" was going about the ungodly business of thoroughly "Gonjaizing" that great region's political culture.

Even if one readily concedes such accusations to be grossly exaggerated, the fact still remains that the counter-factual counterpoint of Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru's cannot be taken at face value. The newly appointed Northern Regional Minister is himself a bona fide Gonja! I am, however, uncontrollably amused to hear Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru make the following counter-accusation: "People keep on polarizing everything. They keep making [outrageous] issues out of politics."

Well, the fact of the matter is that the politics of "Little Dramani" is both unmistakably polarizing and inexcusably outrageous. And for a striking case in point, let's take a gander at the "Dramanian" politics of expediency at the Kotokouraba Market.

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNy
Garden City, New York
April 1, 2014
E-mail: [email protected]
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