Is Akufo-Addo crazy? - Final

ASIEDU NKETIA ON AKUFO-ADDO’S & NPP’S CONNECTION TO THE FOILED MERCENARY TERRORISM IN GHANA

“Are you aware of the number of militants they [South Africans] had trained, what if they trained these militants in badges (sic), can we link the increase (sic) rate in arm (sic) robbery to this training offered by mercenaries, can we link the recent cases of contract killings to the training; are there young people in the country already trained by these men and what are they actually doing with the skills acquired.”

“They [the NPP] invited the ex-police officers at the time they started making unnecessary noise over the Guantanamo Bay detainees to train their militants in weapon handling, so they are able to engage in violence on the blind side of Ghanaians and later blame it on President…”

SOUTH AFRICAN EX-COPS SAGA: BNI CHARGES DANQUAH INSTITUTE DIRECTOR

Ghanaweb, quoting Myjoyonline, has the following news for its wide readership:

“The Bureau of National Investigations has charged the Deputy Executive Director of pro-NPP think tank Danquah Institute with conspiracy to commit crime.

“Nana Attobrah Quaicoe was invited and interrogated by the BNI on Monday, April 4 on his role in bringing the three South African nationals to train the security detail of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo and his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

“Three South African ex-cops Major Chris Hazis (RTD), Warrant Officer Denver Dwayhe and Captain Mlungiseli Jokani were arrested for training private security personnel of the Flagbearer and his running mate.

“They were charged with conspiracy to commit crime and unlawful training but the state dropped the charge against them after detaining them for some days. They were deported on Tuesday, March 29.

“‘I am really surprised…I am really surprised, if they were interested in pursuing the matter to its logical conclusion I guess they should have made it possible for the guys (Ex cops) to be around for them to complete their investigation,’ Nana Attobrah added.”

There is a lingering fear and reservation on our part that this investigation may be botched from the beginning, at least on technical grounds. Of course, this is an important national security case with immense legal or constitutional implications which, we believe, should have been allowed the three deported South African mercenaries to enjoy some form of habeas corpus in a competent jurisdiction beyond the National Bureau of Investigations (BNI)’s proof of authority.

It is however likely that the BNI may have already debriefed the three South Africans as part of its deposition package, which it will use in case the case proceeds to all the way to the Supreme Court. But, Attobrah is absolutely right to say the three should have been physically present as this case proceeds through those appropriate authorities tasked to handle national security matters.

After all, we do not even know yet under what circumstances the BNI debriefed and deposed those three South Africans! We are addressing our concerns directly to any subtle or overt legal or constitutional requirement for observing “audi alteram partem”! In addition this means the three will likely be tried in absentia.

From a layman’s perspective, we are of the certain view that this case may run against some serious technical roadblocks. Unless of course this particular case, like many other cases before it and others running contemporaneously with it, is a purely political, rather than a legal or constitutional, matter.

Yes, for these reasons and others yet to unravel in the coming days, we may have to agree, even if tentatively, with Attobrah’s intelligent sentiment that the BNI may not actually be interested to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion. Yet this is a serious matter that deserves all the attention it needs. Thus, we shall call upon the BNI to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion.

LUCKY DUBE: “POLITICAL GAMES”

“How do you feel when you lie? Straight faced while people cry…

“How do you feel when you promise something…?

“That you know you'll never do; giving false hope to the people…

“Giving false hope to the underprivileged; do you really sleep at night?...

“When you know you're living a lie; to you it is just a job; to the people it hurts to the bone…

“Ooh political games that they play…

“Do you really sleep at night? When you know you're living a lie…

“You talking tough, you talking sincerely…

“Giving false hope to the infected; giving false hope to the affected…

“To you it is just a job; to the people it hurts to the bone…

“Ooh political games that they play…

THE LYRICAL INTERSECTION OF BOB MARLEY AND SAM COOKE: A SERIOUS POLITICAL AND MORAL QUESTION FOR GHANAIANS

This change also demands a critical mass for an effective strategy and tactics of revolutionary actuation which, alas, has remained latent for many a year. However, we do think Bob Marley had something close to the kind of “revolution” we are talking about here. It goes like this (Track: “Revolution”):

“It takes a revolution to make a solution; too much confusion, so much frustration…

“I don’t wanna live in the park; can’t trust no shadows after dark…

“So, my friend, I wish that you could see, like a bird in the free, the prisoners must be free…

“Never make a politician grant you a favor; they will always want to control you forever…

“Kill, cramp and paralyze all weak at conception…

“Wipe them out of creation…Let righteousness cover the earth like water cover the sea…Lightning, thunder, brimstone and fire…”

Yes, the equally ever-sleeping masses whom Bob Marley aptly called “prisoners” must “wake up and live” by raining “lightning, thunder, brimstone and fire” on the corrupt leadership, a class for which we might appropriate Bob Marley’s titular track “Stiff-Necked Fools,” of this unfortunate generation.

On “Wake Up and Live” he sang:

“Wake up and live!...Rise ye mighty people, there’s work to be done…

“Rise from your sleepless slumber…we’re more than sand on the seashore…

“We’re more than numbers. Altogether now: Wake up and live, y’all!”

But to attain that critical mass for that change which we desire Bob Marley somehow, thusly, cautioned the conscientized masses on “Wake Up and Live” to:

“Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy; don’t bury your thoughts; put your vision to reality…!”

At least going by the last lyrical bridge of Cooke’s song quoted in part in Part 3, we have Bob Marley essentially agreeing with this observation on the track “Ambush in the Night” (with our emphasis):

“So they [politicians] bribing with their guns, spare-parts and money, trying to belittle our integrity…

“They say what we know is just what they teach us; and we are ignorant ‘cause every time they can reach us through political strategy…

“AND WHEN YOU GONNA GET SOME FOOD YOUR BROTHER GOT TO BE YOUR ENEMY…”

Once again to attain that critical mass for revolutionary change, namely talking less but actualizing one’s revolutionary intentions, which he also referred to on “Wake Up and Live” as “don’t bury your thoughts; put your vision to reality,” we shall defer again to Bob Marley’s “Crisis” which says in part (with our emphasis):

“They say the sun shines for all; but in some people world, it never shine at all…”

“They say love is stream that will find its course; I mean, some people think life is a dream…

“So they making matters worse…

“So much have been said, so little been done…They [politicians] still killing the people…

“And they having fun, and they are having their fun, having a lots of fun…

“They just want to be the leader, in the house of the rising sun…”

True, the privileged world of the corrupt politician does not shine in the world of the poor masses. But, if we may also add, the privileged world of the corrupt politician needs no love from the poor masses, as the richly lived and living experiences of the corrupt politician is not an academic question, much the same way we might ascribe “life is a dream” to the abject conditionalities of the poor masses. Indeed, the lifestyle of the corrupt politician is killing the people!

In sum, as far as the poor masses are concerned life as a stream will never find its course until the corrupt politician is overthrown as Steele Pulse’s David Hines’ sings about on the track “Tyrant.” The other radical way to go about it is what Peter Tosh and Bob Marley called “Get Up, Stand Up.”

The masses must ensure that the critical mass we have been advocating all this while prevents the corrupt politician from having fun killing the people, because he/she wants to become a leader of the people in “the rising sun” of his/her corruptible environment.

Perhaps, and also more importantly, the strategic and tactical perimeter of the critical mass for revolutionary change should not be permitted to take on the novelistic complexity of Michael Crichton’s international bestselling masterpiece, “Rising Sun.”

For it is clear that Bob Marley’s “the rising sun” on the other hand is totally devoid of any calculating pretensions to devious and murderous Machiavellianism!

In the final analysis then, we can only hazard that the first of the dichotomous choice of Malcolm X’s “the ballot or the bullet” may not yet work to bring about the change we are postulating.

Elsewhere, we have strongly argued against “the bullet” option but, if truth be told, circumstances are giving us no choice but a one-way choice to reconsider our earlier position and then following that, to shift the goalposts accordingly.

Let us just add that the bullet of radical conscientization of the masses and of popular patriotic nationalism may hold the key to opening up a new society where commonsense, vigorous pursuit of comparative advantage, solidarity, uncompromising defense of the national interest, political truth, and outright rejection of our winner-takes-all schadenfreude duopoly prevail.

This is a radical change in our intellectual profile which our readers should know about. Malcolm X’s “the bullet” may be the silver bullet and the magic wand! Yet we may have to learn not to destroy the poor in the process as we destroy the corrupt political class.

“The lips of the righteous teach many, but fools [corrupt politicians] die for want of wisdom,” sang Bob Marley (courtesy of King Solomon’s Proverb on 10:21) on “Wisdom.” “Destruction of the poor is poverty” (our emphasis).

Yet again, Bob Marley assured us on “So Much Things to Say” that a likely windfall from social justice, equality and fairness, patriotism, truth, and exertion of spiritual fortitude against “spiritual wickedness in high and low places” accrues to society or community at large.

Indeed, there exists a rich philosophical subtext of communitarian ethos in the lyrical superstructure of the song, “So Much Things to Say.”

That is, society is more the better if and when its members join hands to resist corruption, anomie, social injustice, and other sociopolitical ills.

Late rapper Tupac Shakur captured this concept of “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” when he, Ice-T, and Ice Cube collaborated on the track “Last Wordz.”

In fine, Bob Marley used the metaphor of “rain” for windfall and of “housetop” for that communitarian ethos, which brings conscionable- and patriotic-thinking members of a given community together, to resist their common enemies, personal and non-personal enemies some of which we have painstakingly mentioned throughout this three-part series on Ghanaian politicians. Here it goes:

“Oh, when the rain fall, fall, fall now…It don’t fall on one’s housetop. Remember that: When the rain fall, it don’t fall on one man’s housetop…”

And while we will not specifically recommend any kind of revolution to bring about the changes we all seek, we want Ghanaians to know that men and women who dare to institute and effect this radical change in the body politic have to know what their objectives are—well-defined goals and their systematic blueprints for effective and efficient execution, together with a set of measurable regime to accompany these suggestions—in order to avoid what Bob Marley described as “Is a foolish dog bark at a flying bird” (Track: “Jah Live”), adding “the truth is an offence but not a sin.”

Now that the masses know that “truth is an offence but not a sin” the courageous amongst them can go ahead to provide the necessary critical mass required for overturning anomie and social decay and so on. In the end Bob Marley made it clear that revolutionary change required sacrifice which he briefly described as “To give your more, to receive your less” on the track “Misty Morning.”

On the same track (“Misty Morning”) he warned those who were not ready to rise to the challenge: “Don’t jump in the water, if you can’t swim.”

“I said that life, sweet life,” he also sang on “Concrete Jungle,” “must be found somewhere.”

FELA KUTI’S DEMO-CRAZY: THE POLITICAL DILEMMA CONFRONTING GHANA & AFRICA

Particularly, the dictatorship of winner-takes-all duopolistic democracy (democratic capitalism) has totally failed Ghana (and across the geopolitical landscape of Africa).

This kind of democracy Fela Kuti aptly called “demo-crazy” on the fabulous track “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense”!

Clearly, this novel idea of political expression, borrowed largely from America and other Western democracies, has abysmally failed the continent in general, and Ghana especially.

Perhaps it is too early to draw this dismal conclusion since this strange political system is relatively new to post-colonial Africa.

Part of this general failure has been the direct result of overly monetization of politics, mass illiteracy, ethnocentrism, organized crime, voter and election fraud (election malpractice), campaigns of lies which Lucky Dube sang about on “political games, “Bob Marley on “Ambush in the Night” and “Burnin’ and Lootin’”, Steele Pulse’s David Hines on “Bodyguard,” Mutabaruka on “The People’s Court”…

Our leading psychiatric politicians have successfully managed to use the medium of universal bribery as well as their devious Machiavellian charismatic authorities to subvert the moral authority of elective franchise by skewing it in their favor, exclusively for partisan political advantage.

This canine pack of devious Machiavellian psychiatric politicians have made the vote blind to political and social realism, making our demo-crazy a great source of duopolistic acrimony, hatred, insults, schadenfreude politics, underdevelopment…Where is the investigative camera of Ana Aremeyaw Ana to pump some sense into these politically oriented psychiatric proponents of demo-crazy?

Failing that, we may have to re-arrange the lyrical contents of Bob Marley’s “Chant Down Babylon” to fit our critique of these politically oriented psychiatric proponents of demo-crazy!

OUR FINAL THOUGHTS

It is sad the Akufo-Addo did not donate one of his eyes to that useful idiot, Adzakuma. Akufo-Addo even wears a pair of medicated glasses on top of his curious yet untried political eyes.

Adzakuma would have been happier were he a salamander or a newt, both of which have the ability to regenerate eyes. But he is not; he is a human being. His case is indeed a sad one, and there should be a way to compensate him for the lost eye.

What he may not, unfortunately, have known is that Akufo-Addo may never be the president of Ghana as he will be contesting other candidates for the presidency.

This fact may have been lost on him anyway, for he should have known that these greedy and wicked politicians have their families ensconced abroad, away from any potential theater of war in Ghana in a post-election dispensation.

Kennedy Agyapong, for instance, always comes up with a number of funny alibis for sneaking out of the country in post-election times in spite of all his pre-election foolhardy and fiery political outbursts.

Even more importantly, anybody can win the 2016 general elections.

Still Adzakuma’s experience should serve as a lesson to those Ghanaians, who mistakenly think they may have found safe havens in vigilante groups such as the Azorka Boys, Kandahar Boys, Bolga Bulldogs, and Invincible Forces, to reconsider their decisions.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram and other homegrown terrorist cells started the same way.

These ragtag vigilante groups must not be allowed to use violence to protect political turfs as violent gangs do elsewhere.

In one sense therefore, Bolga Bulldogs, Kandahar Boys, Azorka Boys, and Invincible Forces are discrete units of antagonistic political gangs whose vigilante behavior can somewhat be likened to the turf wars of the Crips and the Bloods and the Mafia in the United States, although these political turf wars are mostly lazy questions of virtual reality or of political science-fiction, their behavior recalling the deadly vigilante exploits undertaken by some of the characters of Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” and its gripping sequel, “The Sicilian.”

There is no doubt in our minds that Ghana’s duopolistic culture is gradually inching or gravitating towards a balkanization of political gangstarism if this encroachment of vigilante political gangstarism is not extirpated from the ever-sleeping paedomorphic body politic, Nkrumah’s precious Ghana.

In a related context Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom has also threatened to form his own vigilante group, the Sea Lions, so-called, to defend the interests of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).

He made the following well-deserved but controversial threat to boot:

“It is not because I am not capable of competing boot by boot…But some of us also know how to buy guns, bows and arrows. We know where poor, hungry and desperate people are who do not care what happens to them today…

“If some people can raise an Azorka Army and others Bolga Bull Dogs, what happens if those of us who have disciplined ourselves so far decide to raise the Sea Lions for counter attack? What happens when the silent sufferers decide that enough is enough? Is this what the Minister of Interior was promoting when he said, ‘violence begets violence’?”

Why Sea Lions and not Seahorses? Does he want to become the next Pablo Escobar of Ghanaian politics? Even having said that, Dr. Nduom’s is exactly what Bob Marley sang about in “Ambush in the Night.”

CONCLUSION

Indeed, the type of revolution we are advocating and hoping to see its effectuation carried out to its logical conclusion will make President Obama’s sloganeering catchphrase “Yes I Can” pointedly unattractive to radical and progressive Nkrumahists. No wonder some observers see President Obama’s pending legacy as a disappointing failure. The Republican opposition to President Obama is a disappointing failure as well, no doubt. It takes two to tango, so go the cliché. Having said this, we shall largely leave the masses to decide on which type of revolution they find convincing and more appropriate for a better society than the one they have always known.

REFERENCES

Ghanaweb. “God Saved Ghana From NPP Militants—Asiedu Nketia.” April 4, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “SA Ex-Cops Saga: BNI Charges Danquah Institute Director.” April 5, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Debate Me Not ‘Easy Match’ Nana Addo—Nduom To Mahama.” March 15, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “NPP, NDC Have No Monopoly Over Violence—Nduom warns.” July 13, 2016.