with Dr. Asebu Amenfi
It was one tribute that told a lot about their relationship. When David Blunkett, the visually impaired who held various portfolios in Britain's Labour Party administration of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was about to lose Sadie, his trusted and loyal guide dog of nine years standing,  to retirement, he was full of emotions. So was a section of the British media.

The Mail of London wrote of the retiring dog. 'Sadie had met the Queen and had had her ears pricked by George Bush in the line of duty.' BBC wrote on its website:  'The guide dog which loyally served MP David Blunkett for nine years is enjoying retirement in a Peak Village.'

New owner Jane Slaney said: 'Sadie had really come down in the world after she met with the Queen, President Bush and Vladimir Putin.'

On the day the guide dog was to begin her retirement, Mr. Blunkett paid her this tribute. 'She doesn't know yet, but the life of my closest companion is about to be immeasurably improved.  She has endured her last Prime Minister's questions, her last outburst from Dennis Skinner, and her last crowded train home to Sheffield on a cold and rainy Thursday night. Ahead of her lies a new life of country walks, cozy firesides, and perhaps, if she's in the right mood, the occasional pursuit of a fleeing squirrel.'

The former Education and Home Secretary had previously been accompanied on his political tours by Ruby, Teddy, Offa, Lucy and Cosby.

It would add to the innovative nature of local politics if the State of the Nation's address in the House were to be spiced with the snoozing guide dog taking it easy under the Dispatch Box. We may not be there yet, but the signature and the state of the remarks in the visitor's book after the heckling from the elephant, and yeah yeah praise singers dancing to Zu-Za music from beyond the river and Sada territory especially, seem to suggest that the association on the Liberia Road in the national capital, might have a new name in the register.

In the House itself, it is a secret whispered in private conversations. The sight is proving difficult to maintain, and that, to many party loyalists, poses a serious threat to the continued hoisting of the Umbrella at that edifice by the sea at Osu, in the national capital, at a time that the elephant is rumbling with a series of activities.

Take it from the old man with one foot already in the grave it is not the oath of secrecy alone that is keeping witnesses from testifying in the court of public opinion. It is more of bewilderment and what the exposé might impact on the campaign trail than the fear of being singled out.

Those tracing their roots to the agility with which their forefathers held on to the tusk of the elephant in times of trouble are feeling edgy, because of the likely sympathy votes such a pronouncement could attract. Under the Umbrella, there is a sense of anxiety that public knowledge that the dash to exchange a few Ghana cedis for the local dish at those unfashionable suburbs in the national capital the other day, had more to do  with putting idle hands to use, rather than the need to compare the prices of that food item in town.

Following the fine prints on A-4 sheet is proving to be elusive down at the Old Slave Castle, which is why fleeting visits to various parts of the country would become the norm, rather than the exception, as the campaign 2012, reaches a crescendo.

Even then, working out the conundrum, as the signature and the remarks transformed themselves into a V-shaped format on the official record of visiting dignitaries in the House, is proving more difficult than first thought.