Marauding Rented Queenmothers On The Prowl

Let us look at the scenario this way.  Some persons in the Brong Ahafo Region invested in some investment companies operating in the region with provisional licenses given to them by the Bank of Ghana whose other names are, the Government's Bank, Bankers' Bank or Central Bank. For nearly five years, these investment companies operated in the region and paid investors huge interests under the supervision of the Bank of Ghana. Lawyers, Doctors, Military and Police officers, Lecturers, Businessmen and women, Professors, Pastors, Chiefs, Queenmothers, farmers etc did put their hard earned monies into the investment and for some time gained a lot.

Out of the blue, Bank of Ghana decided to freeze the bank account of these investment companies, thereby collapsing them entirely.  The simple reason was that the investment companies did not follow the right procedure. People who deposited their monies into the investment companies cried foul because they used to see officials of Bank of Ghana visiting the offices of these companies for the nearly five years that they operated and their provisional certificates were displayed in the offices of these companies.  Above all, the investors used to see fully armed policemen guarding the offices of these companies day and night.

When matters reached the heat level, some youth and investors at Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region demonstrated and cursed the Bank of Ghana and the EC who were preparing to conduct the District Assembly Elections.  They invoked the names of more than ten deities to curse the EC and dared them to conduct the elections.  The cowards in the EC did not allow them to conduct the elections because they feared the wrath of the deities will visit them.

As at the time of writing this piece, both Nkoranza North and South districts have not got any assembly members not to talk of Presiding Members.  Your guess as to what is happening at the two district assemblies is as good as mine.

In the cause of the hullabaloo, the President, John Dramani Mahama visited the palace of the Drobo Omanhene who told him of the pains of his people who have lost their life savings to these investment companies.  The President promised the Omanhene that when he returned to Accra, he will make sure the investment companies paid the monies to the investors.

The Chief of Staff  Mr  Debra also went to Nkoranza to cut a tape to officially open a palace built by the queenmother of Nkoranza, Nana Dodaa Kani and the queenmother seized the opportunity to complain about the attitudes of the investment companies.  Mr. Debra told the gathering that had he not come to Nkoranza he wouldn't have heard of the issue and wouldn't have known that both Nkoranza North and South districts have no assembly members.  He further promised the revered queenmother that when he returned to Accra he will make sure the matter is solved so that people could get their monies.  He said in a matter of two weeks the matter will come to an end.  The queenmother told him that he can even use one month because her people are dying with some committing suicide. It has been nearly three months since Mr. Debra made that hollow promise; nothing has been done.  Can you imagine a whole Chief of Staff telling Ghanaians that he did not know that district assembly elections were not conducted in Nkoranza?  So it stands to reason that the Regional Minister or the BNI did not brief him and these people are still at post.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr. Eric Opoku too invited chiefs, queenmothers of Brong Ahafo as well as the CEOs of the investment companies and the REGSEC and in the presence of officials of Bank of Ghana a roadmap was drawn for the payment of the monies to the investors. That too yielded nothing.

What has muddied the water was what the so-called queenmother did on two occasions to distance the first lady from an accusation leveled against her at a programme organized by ATV to seek the views of aggrieved investors.  At one of the three programmes which was organized at Berekum, some of the investors who were staunch supporters of the NDC came out to reveal that they met the First Lady when the investment companies were doing brisk business with people enjoying huge interests and the First Lady told them that the activities of the investment companies were genuine and it was one of the governments way of making sure people get monies in their pockets.  They said the First Lady encouraged them to invest in such companies so that the payment of their wards school fees will not be any problem.  Her listeners applauded her and thanked the John Mahama administration for coming to their rescue.

It has been nearly two months since the accusation was made against the woman but sadly we have not heard anything from Madam Lordina Mahama.  Since silence means consent, Ghanaians had the feeling that indeed, the First Lady had made the pronouncement which encouraged the people of Brong Ahafo to invest in the companies.

Instead of allowing the First Lady to carry her own cross, a group of women who call themselves Brong Ahafo Queenmothers Association called a press conference to tell the people of Ghana that the First Lady never made the pronouncement.  Meanwhile none of them were in Berekum when the First Lady was alleged to have made the statement.

Because nobody paid any serious attention to them, they followed it up with a demonstration and cursed Sir John, the former General Secretary of the NPP for alleging that the First Lady indeed made the statement.  They also cursed Major (RTD) Derricks Oduro, the MP for Nkoranza North who has been championing the cause of the duped investors. The multimillion questions one is asking are: why are these so-called queenmothers interested in the case?  As queenmothers who are supposed to move in sympathy with people within their jurisdictions, are they telling us that they will rather sacrifice their people for the sake of the image of one single person who is alleged to have made a reckless statement which has led to the mess that has been created?  Is it true that the First Lady gave them a piece of cloth and GH¢100.00 each to demonstrate on her behalf as being alleged by the aggrieved investors?

It is very unfortunate they will never hear what people are saying about them and the insults being heaped on them on daily basis.  There are some unprintable words that people use which cannot be repeated here.  Where I come from, chiefs and their queenmothers are so revered that you dare not insult them even when you are alone in your bedroom.  Queenmothers are supposed to be like our mothers.  When children cry, mothers are supposed to wipe their tears and console them.  Not so with the Lordina marauding rented queenmothers who would rather smear pepper into the eyes of their crying children.

The handlers of Mr. Mahama and his wife should tell them that gone were the days when chiefs could promise politicians that they and their people will vote for them.  In this computer age, people have become so enlightened that immediately you open your mouth they easily know what you want to say even before you say it.  The chiefs who have been promising Mr. Mahama that they and their people will vote for the NDC cannot convince even their wives and children to vote for the NDC,  not to talk of a whole community.

If these chiefs and queenmothers want us to continue to give them their deserved respect, they should move away from this attitude or put off their clothes and don political suits and hit the roads to campaign for the NDC.  The framers of the constitution were not fools when they inserted in the constitution that chiefs should not take part in active politics.  And did I hear the president say even his illiterate uncle in his village will never invest in the investment companies the Lawyers, Medical Doctors, Chiefs, Queenmothers, Military and Police Officers, Professors etc invested?  My brother, this Bole/Bamboi man can insult paa ooo!!!

Eric Bawah