Is Mahama Shaking From Nigeria Earthquake?

When a man's beautiful house decrepitates in a furious conflagration, a sentient and sensible neighbour equally takes stock.

Is President John Dramani Mahama sitting comfy, or is he shaking in his boots? After all, Nigeria and Ghana share many similarities, and the "earthquake" from the decimation of President Goodluck Jonathan at the Nigerian polls must surely give him a cause for concern.

A deaf president belongs to the school for the deaf, and not to the stately and imposing edifice called Flagstaff House.

The people of Ghana are suffering, and Mahama is letting down people like myself who genuinely love the man and wish him the very best. Indeed, before auspicious circumstances compassed to thrust him in the highest office in the land, I had tipped him to be president. Perhaps, for those who believe in reincarnation—which I don't believe in—in a separate life, we may have been more than casual acquaintances. I just wish the man will do far better than he has done so far. Or, shall I let him off the hook and suggest that he is doing what he can do, given the circumstances he finds himself in; and that given different variables and indices, perhaps he would have fared better?

My response to such people follows the lines that, if there was no Goliath, perhaps we would have never heard and read about a ruddy, fine-looking shepherd boy disporting himself with a few sheep in the back deserts of Israel. Indeed, it is daunting challenges that tease, provoke, and bestir people to rise from crepuscular doldrums of oblivion and otiosity to the refulgent pinnacles of Homeric and sublime achievements.

The grand opportunity for John Mahama to take this empowering course has presented itself, considering all the perennial problems facing the country. But would he seize this golden chance and permanently stamp his name upon the impressionable minds of Ghanaians? Would he etch his work, not on water but on granite, as the president who took Ghana beyond average? Or perhaps, he will allow the boulders of opportunity to somehow slip through his quivering fingers?

The happenings of the last few days must send the president of Ghana in particular back to his desk, and not just him but other African presidents who have been able to contrive by ignominious and inglorious means to remain in office. Yes, they have colluded and connived to perpetuate their unenviable reign in office: to their perdurable advantage, but to the interminable disadvantage of the populace. It is time for them to review their actions, and realise that the perimeter of corruption is tightening, and that Nigeria has surely initiated a golden tradition like I dreamed of in my article Nigeria Decides: Imagine All-night Prayer Vigils For Peaceful UK Elections.

As a personal message to President John Mahama, please remember that time is running out for you, my good friend from a distance. You must listen to the grievances of Ghanaians. Your people are suffering, and you must get the wax out of your ears and hear what the people are saying. If you fail to listen and transform the fortunes of the proletariat, then you will be our first one-term president in the Fourth Republic. Remember, vox populi, vox dei.

The people will vote you out, and this time around, no hoary-looking wig-wearer will be able to keep you in office, even if it means that the dusty fields of Accra are made more erubescent by our internal crimson-flowing-fluids. You will leave and your memory will be a forgettable one. If in doubt, hear something about King Jehoram from the Scriptures: "Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired" (2 Chronicles 21:20a KJV).

A good word to you is enough. Start doing what the people put you in office to do. And transform your time in office from being one of the worst to the best that we have experienced so far.

If you are quaking in your boots, and are actuated to act differently for the better, based on the happenings from our neighbors, then we may just have the duty of offering our oblation of gratitude to the Nigerian people for showing us how to kick a failing president out of office. We shall gladly dance to their wonderful and sonorous tune.

However, time will be the best judge, as to whether you did not only shake but salvaged something of refreshing significance. The ball is at your feet!

I shall return with my talking drums!

Angelina K. Morrison is interested in national development, true religion, and self-improvement. She enjoys thinking, and writes stories only when the muse grips her. Her first short story, Gravellatina is a breathtaking five-part gripping series available now at Amazon. You can email her at angelinakm75@gmail.com, or find her at www.angelinakmorrison.wordpress.com or Facebook page.