Mills' 'Nkatenkonto' Cabinet

THE AKANS have a particular soup called “Nkatenkonto”.  This soup is a mixture of groundnut and 'nkontonmire' (cocoyam leaves).  It normally goes with plantain, yam or cocoyam fufu. 

If you eat too much of this type of soup in the afternoon, the next thing you do is to go to bed immediately because you become lazy. 

One distinctive feature of this soup is that the taste of groundnut is felt more than the 'nkontonmire'.  The 'nkontomire' only makes the soup look a little bit green.

The moment Dr. Afari Gyan declared Professor Mills winner of last year's general elections, I had ants in my pants.  I saw it coming like a thunderbolt. 

I knew it will surely come to this because I had predicted in one of my write-ups that when Mills won the elections, the cadres of the wish-to-be-forgotten 31st December revolution would take over the governance of this country.  Today, I have been vindicated. 

The list of Mills' cabinet has proved me right.  It is virtually loaded with cadres who played active roles in the revolution.  They are back and only God knows what awaits the people of Ghana in the coming years.

Hear these familiar names when the revolution held the people of Ghana in bondage:  Sherry Aryettey, Rear Admiral Joseph Henry Smith, Dr. Sipa Yankey, Cletus Avoka, Yiele Chire, Kwasi Ahwoi, Nyamekye Marfo, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo etc. These are people who used the revolution as a stepping stone in their climb upward in life and politics. 

Behind the scene and controlling affairs now are: P.V. Obeng, Kofi Totobi Kwakye, Kwamena Ahwoi, Ato Ahwoi, Dan Abodapbi, Kojo Tsikata, Fui Tsikata, Tsatsu Tsikata, Mrs. Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, Sam Garba and of course the almighty founder, Jerry John Rawlings.

As for the new faces in the system, it is a matter of time before they are shown the red card and elbowed out.  Some of them will surely go out in disgrace.  In the run-up to the 2004 general elections, then candidate Mills met the cadres of the defunct revolution in a church at James Town and asked for pardon for the neglect that the NDC made them to experience. 

He appealed to them to join the campaign to make sure the party came to power.  He promised them that when the party was voted into power, they, the cadres, would take their rightful place in the affairs of the party.  Some of the cadres who spoke at the forum were so bitter. 

They said the party had been hijacked by some intellectuals who went into hiding when the going was tough.  Thereafter, the cadres reorganized and did hit the road running (apology to Prof. Mills).

Do you know why the Professor is finding it difficult to assemble his ministers and deputies?  There is a power struggle between the cadres and the intellectuals. 

Whereas the cadres want to play integral roles in the affairs of the government, the intellectuals feel the cadres do not possess the requisite qualifications to hold certain positions. 

President Mills, being an intellectual and a new-comer, is finding it difficult to stand on his feet because the pressure from the cadre front is unbearable. 

The Professor knows that when he offends the cadres, he has offended the founder of the party and the end result will be suicidal for him.  The man is in a fix.

The impending scenario is not far-fetched.  The so-called new-comers like Mr. Duffour, the Minister of Finance, will soon find out that if you go to the city called Freetown, not everything is free.  There will be some sort of arm-twisting and cowing. 

Mr. Duffour for example may like to go strictly according to the IMF recommendations by laying bare the truth about the economy but the cadres will compel him to sweep things under the carpet to portray to Ghanaians that everything is fine. 

They did same before losing power in 2000.  In the case of petroleum prices, for example, it was when ex-President Kufuor came to power that we were made to understand that we were not paying realistic prices for petroleum products.  It then dawn on us that the county's petroleum reserve could carry us for only two weeks. 

The Tema Oil Refinery had run bankrupt and the Ghana Commercial Bank was at the verge of collapse.  Ex-President Kufuor asked us to bite the bullet in order not to collapse the economy.  We did, and the result is the bouncing economy that we are seeing today.

Listen to what Mr. Armah Ashitey, Minister-designate for Greater Accra when he appeared before the vetting committee:  “If given the nod, I will take immediate steps to clear the streets of the capital of hawkers.  I am ready to deal with the problem of street hawking”.  Eh, has it come all too soon?  You see the problem of the new-comers? 

During the 2008 electioneering campaign, the NDC told Ghanaians that the Kufuor administration was insensitive to the plight of street hawkers. 

They told Ghanaians that these poor traders make their living through street hawking but because the NPP administration was insensitive, they drove them from the streets. 

As a result, they said the traders were finding it difficult to pay the school fees of their children, not to talk of making ends meet. They said if they came to power they would never drive away street hawkers.  We clapped for them and subsequently voted for them.  Now listen to what Mr. Armah is telling Ghanaians.

Apart from the impending conflict between the cadres and the new-comers, the founder of the party, Emperor Shogun will be at the centre as a master dictator of events.  Any new-comer who will refuse to comply with his instruction will be shown the door.  Those who will play the fool will be “Arkaalized”. 

Finally, the “Nkatenkonto” soup will turn to “Nkatenkwan” and the soup will lose its green colour and the cadres will reign supreme.  Full stop!!!