The kenkey politics that defines the emerging mirage

There is so much  mystery underpinning the promotion of the new concept of a 'Better Ghana' that following the sequence of events in their natural form is becoming an uphill task for most residents at the centre of the earth.

The other day, when the Master of Ceremonies at the march past of school children and the security services missed his lines and failed to invite the Ga Wulomo to exhibit his skills at libation pouring, ubiquitous Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Deputy Minister who has so perfected the art promoting the 'goat is a cow' concept of governance, that his boss was declared redundant recently, played his role to near perfection.

Libation was kicked to touch at the Independence Square last week, because, according to the Deputy Minister who speaks for the President at the Ministry of Information, the chieftaincy dispute in the Ga Traditional Area had made it impossible to identify the Ga Wuomo, who is an expert at communication between the living and our ancestral spirits.

The problem with this sort of explanation is the unlikelihood of it sticking in people's memories.  One truth manifesting itself across both sides of the political divide is that since Joshua Water got sprinkled on the four walls of the old Slave Castle, at the beginning of 2009, libation at national events has been cast aside, which gives clues into why the Vice-President went bananas over the development projects people see and fail to register them in their memories.

It did not take long after the former law lecturer had missed his lines at the swearing in ceremony at the Independence Square, for the Green Book to be published listing 50 top achievements of his administration. No one has ever discussed how much it cost the taxpayer to put that glossy magazine of phantom achievements in the public domain, though.

It turned out that most of the 50 top achievements had not even been conceived at the time they were being touted as some of the most significant achievements of the university Don, who is,  incidentally, taunted by his bitterest political opponent as Prof. Do Little.

It was in the midst of presenting the not-so-obvious that necessitated the signing of a slip by the former Joy FM anchor man on news analyses, on behalf of the female Minister of Information in exchange for a cash award of GH¢169,000. To date, no one has succeeded in convincing editors, who were supposed to have been beneficiaries of those special Christmas hampers, that delivery men sent by Stan Dogbe ever found their way through the maddening city traffic to their various work locations or residential homes.

In essence, therefore, things have worked more on the mirage aspect of life than the actual appreciation of the achievements, if any, of this administration. It is the difference between what is said to be there, and what the ordinary folks see, that is creating all the problems for the authorities.

Even then one expected the Vice-President, normally a cool head in a sea of storm, to hold his emotions together. Apparently, with December 2012 fast approaching without much sight of appreciation for all the efforts at taking the scissors and axe on a whirlwind journey across the country, apprehension is beginning to take over cool heads.

Read the lips of the nation's Number Two Gentleman: 'We are commissioning projects, clinics, schools under trees, and yet, some people refuse to see the reality. So, even though their eyes have seen it, their brains will not register it.'

Said Mr. Mahama: 'If you can't see what this government has done, then it means you are looking in the wrong direction. I just want those, whose brains are refusing to register what is being done in this country, to open their eyes and open their minds to the reality of what we are doing,' at the commissioning of locally manufactured DONGFENG vehicles in Accra.

To state that the Vice-Presidential statement is unfortunate, is to beg the question. It tells much about the frustration in the system and about what officialdom might perceive as non-appreciative citizens.

Fact is, there have been so much roof-top advertisements of what may not exist that it is difficult to have faith in what is put out in the public domain about this administration. At the beginning of 2011, President John Evans Atta Mills declared the year as that of action. To appreciate the event-filled nature of the year, he took his scissors, pick axe, and shovel round the country.

When he commissioned the 30,000 housing units for the security services by cutting the sod for commencement of work at the Police Training School at Tesano in Accra, the President of the Republic said everything was on course to bridge the housing gap, and that it was only the opposition NPP which would doubt the sincerity of his administration.

More than one year down the line, the STX Korea Deal is dead in the water. The President, then went to Ho and Sunyani to cut the sod for two universities to spring up in the Volta and the Brong Ahafo regions, declaring that the first batch of students to benefit from the setting up of the two universities were to move to campus in September 2011.

At the time the President was making the declaration, the sites for the two universities had not even been acquired. None of the academic or ground staff had even been identified. Yet the President was drumming home the magic deed of his administration.

Hopefully, the two universities may take off in the next academic year, that is, if all is well. At the moment, though, structures and course contents are still on the drawing board. If students' intake should begin in the next academic year, one expects application forms for the two universities to be available by next month. So far, everything is struggling to beat the deadline.

One of the favourite topics of this administration is the miracle of boosting the economic life of this society. Inflation is in single digit. As a matter of fact, inflation from the Ghana Statistical Service begun falling to single digit the moment the President occupied the Castle.

The miracle of the kind of single digit inflation we have is that goods and services rise in double and treble figures. A bag of cement that used to sell at GH¢8.00 at the time the Kufuor administration was exiting in January 2009, is now being offered for GH¢18 to GH¢19. The same size of tea bread that was offered for GH¢0.20 is now going for GH¢1.00. The other day, kenkey featured prominently in national politics.

The genesis of the kenkey politics is a very simple affair. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, headed by Mills loyalist Kwesi Ahwoi, conducted an exercise to find out the price of kenkey, a very popular food item of the people of the coastal regions of Ghana.

It followed the realisation that the price of maize, which is used in the preparation of kenkey, was going through the roof. The Ministry found out that that kenkey was selling at GH¢0.50 in many parts of the national capital, Accra.

The Ministry also established that there were places in Accra where one could obtain kenkey at GH¢0.70. In a few disturbing cases at Abeka Lapaz, Tema, and certain parts of Osu in Accra,  one had to fork out as much as GH¢1.00 to buy a ball of kenkey.

Following this disclosure, Nana Akomeah, Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, called the media and warned the government to be careful about how prices of basic food items were rising beyond the means of the ordinary Ghanaian.

The exposé did a number of rounds in the media. Talk shows in the morning were all about the price of kenkey. This apparently, set the President on the move. According to the NDC media and the various communication teams of the government, the President went on a walk about to buy kenkey to find out for himself the price.

We were told that the President bought a ball of kenkey for GH¢0.40 and GH¢0.50. The picture of an uneasy looking Head of State fidgeting with money before giving it in exchange for four balls of kenkey, did the rounds by noon the same day.

Why the President went to Maamobi, Accra New Town and Nima, when the concern was at his own backyard, Osu, beat the imagination of ordinary folks of the land. One housewife called into a radio programme reviewing the presidential encounter with balls of kenkey, and asked: What was Mrs. Mills doing when the Presidential motorcade zoomed in on the kenkey sellers?'

Another caller wondered why the President should buy kenkey without fish. In this caller's simple estimation, the cost of living is measured in weighing the price of fish with the kenkey. In his view therefore, it is not natural that an ordinary Ghanaian would buy kenkey without fish.

That commentary told everything about how unnatural the kenkey-buying deed was, and sums up the mirage of an achievement over which the Vice-President went bananas.