Yaa Konadu: In 1982 You Were Silent Whenever JJ Brutalized Women

*Dedicated to the late Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow & all Ghanaian women who suffered under the sadism & predatory rampage of JJ Rawlings & the December 31st Falsehood.

**By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“Ekumfi Essuehyia (C/R), May 18, GNA - Konadu Rawlings, President of the 31st December Movement has expressed joy that the movement had made some impact in national development. She said when in 1982, the World Bank declared Ghana as a collapsed state she was moved to mobilise some women to form the movement to see how they could empower them to play meaningful roles in nation building…” (Ghanaweb May 18, 2010).

I. HISTORICIZING
Yes, in 1982 Ghana was a collapsed state
In the hegemonic horizon of hopelessness
World Bank made that declaration
But JJ was the heroic mouthpiece of the collapse
The eternal hero of chaos
JJ's egotistic narcissism
Suffocated us all
Suffocated us with Rawlings' Chain
1982 Rawlings' Chain of oppression
Kidnapped, brutalized, coerced, deceived

II. FIREBALL OF LIES
Amidst 31st Dec FALSEHOOD
Millions of female street kids
Wedded to our streets & bonded to poverty
Selling who born dog chains
Konadu claims to have saved them all
Suffering females of Ghana
Hear ye all Konadu's fireball of lies
She who escaped FIRE-ing
On a somber Valentine's Day
Wearing a royal headgear and kente
When Chief FIREeman was far away
She who knows how to escape FIRE
From he who born FIRE-ings
Has patented self-righteousness
She who has lived off Ghanaians
Lived off taxpayers in 30 years
She who fears Nsawam Prison
But gladly stole Nsawam Cannery
Konadu is still self-possessed
Of the noise of 31st DEC FALSEHOOD
Cacophonic self-righteousness
And she claims to have saved women

III. 31ST DECEMBER FALSEHOOD
Yaa Konadu Rawlings
Uses state funds to marginalize women
Uneducated, downtrodden rural women
To make GARI, KONKONTE
And she calls it empowering women
That is disempowering women
That is marginalizing women
That is feminization of poverty
Those gari women need/ed education
Flawless education like your daughters had
Daughters who escaped our decaying schools
Pampered daughters educated overseas
Konadu you only saved her rich daughters

IV: KONADU'S SADISTIC SILENCE
In 1982 Yaa Konadu
The champion of women
Ignored the killing of the JUDGES
Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow
Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee
Mr. Justice Kwadwo Adjei Agyepong,
Abducted in the violent night
Curfew imposed by rampaging JJ
Mrs. Koranteng-Addow and others
Carted like garbage
In Fiat Campagnolas
Whose murderous keys
Keys picked up from Konadu's palace
Palace guarded by soldiers
Keys on Konadu's affluent dining table
Death squads of the night
JJ's kinsmen of predatory power
Slaughtered Mrs. Koranteng-Addow
Konadu you were silent
Konadu you enjoyed JJ's sadism

In 1982 Yaa Konadu
The champion of women
Ignored Makola women
Who were demonized
Assaulted, raped
Tortured in the genitalia
Yaa Konadu you were silent
Konadu you enjoyed JJ's sadism

In 1982 Yaa Konadu
The champion of women
Ignored Legon female students
Abducted by JJ's thugs
Assaulted and raped
The feared cadres
Thugs in the pay of JJ
Yaa Konadu you were silent
Konadu you enjoyed JJ's sadism

V. KONADU NEEDS REDEMPTION
Yaa Konadu Rawlings
You have never fought for any woman
You have fought for yourself & your kids
Selfish and sadistic like JJ
Self-Righteous like JJ
Yaa Konadu seek redemption
You owe Ghanaian women apologies
For your sadistic silence
Enough of your gyrated hypocrisy
Coming from a haunted, damaged psyche

**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]