Who is Writing KKD’s Memoirs?

“Politics is complicated, family even more so”, write Alex Altman and Zeke Miller in the March 16, 2015 edition of TIME, the authoritative news magazine. The columnists did a scholastic examination of the different strands that make Jeb Bush, the next in line to add his signature to the political dynasty of the Bush Family. The columnists write that “The family dynasty shaped Jeb Bush's life. Now it's complicating his campaign for the presidency”. Family is important in the determination of who we become and what we do with it. Family will mostly be there for you but not always. For a man, hard work is good but character is everything. In the end, character determines how hard you have worked. The other thing is discipline, an ingredient most successful men do not have.

Fortunately, Kwasi Kyei Darkwa is not a politician. He is a fine impresario and a master of a unique communication genre only KKD knows how it is done. Well, sources say he had been penciled for a great brand ambassadorial job in the political circles shortly before the sexual allegation that would see the finest man in Ghanaian entertainment spend time in police custody and in court for judicial proceedings. Even after the victim in the alleged rape incident, Ms. Ewurafe Orleans Thompson, had dropped charges and written to advise the judiciary of her unwillingness to pursue the matter, the state is going ahead to prosecute the case before a jury. April 22 has been set for the trial before a 7 member jury. It looks serious and threatening: It is KKD against the state, not Ewurafe, and the law would have its way if the jury decides. We hope not.

Whoever is writing KKD's memoirs would have some rich details and intriguing episodes to twirl around the sequence of events and happenings in the life of a fine man. A completed first draft of his brilliant memoirs would by now be going for a second review if KKD was Russell Brand or even Kris Humphries, the 72 hour hubby of Kim Kardashian. A paperback copy would soon hit the bookshelves for gossip and stress-busting readers who may have already tongue-written their own versions of the book. Publishing houses would also be getting ready for a reprint or perhaps a second print. Theirs is a world of books and letters where information is treasured and paid for. Well, we don't write much here because we do not read much.

I was never able to comment on the KKD story because I love the man. I would not drive a horse and a coach through people I admire. In 2008 I wrote to KKD from Canada, to discuss the possibility of a joint writing project, where he would be the subject and me the writer. Well, we could both write along if time would permit him. I remember telling him something like this: “Kwasi, you have such a great story and you need to document it for your large following. You are a brand and a great style blended in a successful man who continues to shine and define new frontiers in a trade you know so well. How about a memoir? I know you are very busy; I will do the writing. All you need to do and run me through what I expect to be the intriguing details of your life. We will garnish it with some of your great photos and we are done”.

As you would expect, the email was not written in those exact words but the communication was about the matter of memoirs and my desire to help. The reply was immediate: “Good idea. Let's speak”. He left his telephone numbers and politely asked me to give him a ring when I was free. I don't remember writing back to him or calling, but I never abandoned the idea. And to be very honest, I wasn't confident enough to attempt writing for a man who writes so eloquently and speaks something close to the RP (Received Pronunciation). I think I made this acknowledgement in my email. I also considered how difficult the coordination would be when we were on two different continents. Kwasi lives at plush Kensington in London while I was in Canada. How would this work? I was not quite ready to go back to London.

So we left the project just where we picked it up. There are many events in the womb of time, Shakespeare tells us in Othello. Since then, time has given birth to many events in the life of KKD. I have had a few events too in my very troubled existence, often undoing things I set out to do and going ahead to do those same things anyway, because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do in the first place. In the life of a man, a lot of things happen. Suddenly, it was as if KKD never worked in the media when news broke about his problems with the law. Some made dirty jest about it while public opinion tried the matter in their court with pretentious disinterest, as if they cared less how many years the gem served in prison. Society is funny business, isn't it?

The heart of the matter is where exactly the matter now lies. What happens to KKD after here? Like Dubai, there are three KKDs to the man: The finest, the freethinker and the Peter Pan. Like Michael Jackson, you cannot hate KKD for what he is not, and you cannot afford not to love him for his style. As it's the case with most celebrities, there is benign brittleness and vulnerability beneath the fine exterior we see on artificial screens. I am not sure which part of the man's tripartite personality will survive the present ordeal; what I do know is that he will prevail and may be not wither.

If I knew the person writing his memoirs (and he cannot afford not to write one), I would urge him to tell the story from the end of the beginning, and begin exactly where it all started. If KKD doesn't have a biographer, I am prepared to renew my earlier request and do him the same honour Walter Isaacson did Steve Jobs recently. In the life of an ambitious man, it must happen. Controversy must happen. It happens.

Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin
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