The Zongo communities and 2016 Elections: Me Thinking Aloud!

We read with heavy hearts, the heart-rending circumstances under which Mr Adams Akalbila Mahama was bathed in acid leading to his untimely death on the 22/05/2015. Images of this gruesome murder are still on the internet (and for those who do not delete files sent to them, on their Whatsapp folders) to remind us all of how politics in Ghana has degenerated into an "art" of violence.

On the 23rd of October 2015, we also read about how a constitutionally elected chairman of the largest opposition party in Ghana was suspended in what Dr Wereko Brobbey described as a ‘coup’.

Paul Afoko himself (as cited in the Daily Graphic of 10th November) described it as a ‘usurpation’ of his powers. Prior to the National Executive Committee meeting which reportedly suspended Mr Awentami, we read (in a story captioned Mayhem rocks NPP headquarters again; car, motorbike destroyed - See more at: http://citifmonline.com/2015/10/23/mayhem-rocks-npp-headquarters-again-car-motorbike-destroyed/#sthash.AUkXonfn.dpuf) that a group of some 20 “heavily built” men calling themselves the “Invincible Forces” had stormed the offices of the NPP and burnt down a motorbike and smashed the windscreen of a taxi. We understand the “Invincible Forces” visited the destruction as a warning to a rival group that calls itself the “Bolga Bull Dogs”.

Headlined “Turmoil at NPP office again”, Citi FM reported on the 27th of October of a near-carnage at the NPP headquarters during which Mr Kwabena Agyepong’s car was vandalised. Interestingly, at the heart of the violence was one Hajia Fati, who ostensibly, led the booing and maligning of Mr Agyepong.

But even more interesting are the series of reports we read following Mr Afoko’s suspension and the names (and ethnolinguistic persuasions of the persons behind the news): C.K Tedam, Alhaji Sulemana Yirimea, Alhaji Mohammed Aminu Amadu.

Besides these, I noted that one of the very first feature articles on the suspension of Mr Paul Afoko was indeed written by a prolific writer of Northern descent - Brother Akilu Sayibu.

Only last week, in my own backyard of Asawasi, I read with a heavy heart how one Abubakar Saddiq was brutally murdered at the premises of the NPP office in Kumasi. I have only just seen the horrific pictures (which I think, Google must take down).

I am hoping that I have by now, registered my point firmly in your mind, my dear reader. But if I haven’t, permit me to enunciate the concatenation of events I am so passionately interested in. Every election year, we see how our brothers and sisters get “used” by politicians to achieve their ill-orchestrated objectives.

Most of the people these politicians use are mostly unemployed (or more like unemployable youth) from the Northern and Zongo communities where poverty and deprivation stand tall.

They do the dirty jobs and after the politician wins, that becomes the end of their “contract” until a new one is signed towards the beginning of the electioneering year. I have been told that to do their dirty work, some of the boys are bought guns and other weapons by these politicians.

Once the “contract” finishes, these boys (armed with these weapons and without any jobs) go back into the communities and either indulge in antisocial acts such as terrorising innocent people with their weapons or in some extreme cases become armed robbers.

That cannot be right and begs some questions. But if you are born in a house where your unemployed father probably has 4 wives with each wife having 6 children, you cannot do but to be get tempted by the promise of being sent abroad where “honey and milk flow”.

If you are born into a family where 8 of you (your 5 siblings, father and mother) all share an unventilated, dark- and dungeon-like single room in a compound house where 10 other families live under similar squalid conditions, you would surely grow up feeling you have nothing to lose if you sacrifice your life on the altar of politics.

Indeed, if you grow up with a father who is only seen on the night he comes to impregnate your mother and then hop off to another waiting wife, the realisation of having a “Godfather” in no mean person than an “accomplished” politician can be overwhelming.

But even more overwhelming it is to have your very first feel of Dollars!!! . . . something you had only seen on movies or in the hands of black "marketers" in Allah Bar!

If the case of the illiterate, unemployable youth used in that way by politicians in the way described in the preceding paragraph begs questions, even more so is the use of the so-called “Northern elite” by politicians.

When I read about the two guys (Alhaji Sulemana Yirimea and Alhaji Mohammed Aminu Amadu) who petitioned the National Executive Committee to suspend Mr Afoko, my first reaction was “why are these guys allowing themselves to be used?” And this is the way I tried to rationalise it:

“Here is an individual (who coincidentally is a Northerner) we do not like. He is stubborn, too close to J A Kuffuor (the man who scuttled our chances of winning the 2008 elections) and probably close to John Mahama. Given some of the tribal passions that can be inflamed if a Southerner moves for the suspension of the constitutionally-elected chairman, we need to get a Northerner to do it. Who can we get to do that? Oh yeah, let’s get Sulemana Yirimea and Mohammed Aminu to do it.

Once it is done, we can get C.K Tedam (in his capacity as the Chairman of the NEC and being a Northerner himself) to make one or two comments to validate the suspension. That way, no one can accuse us of plotting against “Northerners” . . . Ok that is it, we nailed it! Let’s do it guys!” That for me is effectively what has happened.

I could be wrong but my hypothecations are based on the fact that I am aware of a similar orchestration in which attempts were made to lure a Northern acquaintance into doing a press release to attack the person of His Excellency John Mahama. But the smart dude that my friend is, he refused to do it and told the plotters in London (in unequivocal terms) to shove it up their backside. But not everyone is as smart as my friend and so we will have people like the Yirimeas and Mohammed Aminus who will allow themselves to be used this way.

And that is where this article comes in, to dissuade our brothers and to tell them to tread carefully and smartly (like my brothers down South) in the muddied waters of Ghanaian politics. I can say in no uncertain terms that the most Adam Mahama’s window and children will get [from the NPP] is a few Ghanaian cedis over a period not longer than a year.

After that, everything goes back to normal and no one gives a crap about how the window or indeed the young children get fed, clothed and schooled – never mind the emotional and psychological vacuum the young and innocent children will have to endure for the rest of their lives. That is the reality!

That said, I cannot blame the politicians for using our people this way. They have an interest they are pursuing and will do anything in their power to actualise it. It is therefore up to our young men and women to look sharp and be smart. Truth is, there is nothing wrong in engaging in politics. What is wrong however, is to allow yourself to be used and abused by ANYONE. If someone wants to give you a million

Dollars to go and do his dirty job for him, by all means do not take it . . . if you are ethically-grounded. But if you choose to take it (and I wouldn’t dissuade you from taking it . . . it’s public money anyway), be reminded that you are not under any obligation to carry out the instructions you are given. I know some brothers from the South who do just that !

I am yet to see any of these boys who get used, whose fortunes have turned around after allowing themselves to be used by a politician. The most I have seen is a motor bike or some rickety, decrepit car being given to them. And yet the politicians, with their wives and children, live in opulence from the largesse amassed from an ill-gotten wealth these young men have helped to raise.
My word ? Wise up my Zongo and Northern brothers and stop thinking through “your anus” (to borrow Patience Ozorkwo’s pejorative cant phrase).

Ghanaian Media
The author has a keen interest in happenings in Ghana and can be contacted at [email protected].