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17.04.2015 Feature Article

Murtala Bites His Scrotum

Murtala Bites His Scrotum
17.04.2015 LISTEN

The Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana, perhaps would be the last Republican Constitution to guide our governance process just like the Fifth Republican Constitution of France. We will live with it in all its imperfections; save amendments here and there as certain provisions in the constitution become anachronistic with time. What is likely to derail our forward march in our democratic governance surely will not be the document but the people working with it. We have had six democratic elections in this country since 1992 even though the constitution itself became operational in 1993.

This country has experienced the worst form of verbal attacks on political opponents which had polarized this country ever than before, particularly in the run-up to the 2008 general elections. The nation's political landscape saw very young people from the two main political divides either defending the opposition NDC or the ruling NPP. It was also true that many of those from the side of the then ruling party, the NPP, who appeared on television and radio programmes were quite matured and dealt primarily with issues than the relatively younger and inexperienced ones from the side of the NDC who were very vociferous in their propaganda and in many instances posited blatant falsehood against people in government.

These 'children with sharp teeth' kept insulting and criminalizing elderly people in the previous administration without any proof. They imputed acts of criminality against some elders in the NPP which today still stand unproven and were rewarded with ministerial appointments. They have not been able to successfully prosecute and convict a single individual in the Kufuor administration almost seven years of the NDC administration even though they constantly refer to some of them as thieves. In the life of the nation since 1993, perhaps the only new thing that has happened is that new people, predominantly young people in power, have added unto themselves, extra powers to steal the nation's riches and to use the resources for their own satisfaction with such brazen opulence.

Among these young people, supercilious, arrogant and self-conceited, was Murtala Mohammed, the Member of Parliament for Nanton and the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry. He is so vocal, acerbic, and speaks with such arrogance such that so many people who talk to me say they switch off their sets each time he is on any of the T.V. stations. Murtala, who today prides himself of impeccable academic achievements as against the mediocre academic performance of his colleagues in government, (why not, if some one's achievement in life to become a Deputy Minister is a position of a Dinning Hall Prefect in SHS,) in my view was not appointed to the position he holds today on the basis of his so-called impeccable academic records but on the basis of his insulting and disrespectful excellence.

The NDC and President John Mahama rewarded people with ministerial positions not on the basis of proven record of personal achievements, but on the basis of how loud any of his party functionaries, be they in Parliament or outside of it, can shout and defend his(Mahama's) incompetence and crippling corruption in the country. The NDC is always very happy to hear their domesticated children with sharp teeth defending criminality in government and insulting elders on the other side of the political divide. The party leadership and the government relish these acts with glee, drink to toast such misconduct by people who do not seem to have elders in their various homes to teach them ethical behavior in public.

Today, the NDC seems to have trained an inoffensive cat and developed it into a deadly tiger which has as a result of hunger, developed an uncontrollable anger and it is now snarling threateningly at its masters with the deadly speed of a continental ballistic missile. What at all happened to Murtala to confirm the criminal looting of his colleagues in government to the public? We know that the NDC government is synonymous with thievery, and Murtala has confirmed that publicly. Eei, that they are using the ill-gotten monies to bribe some Northern Chiefs and Islamic Clerics? And that he Murtala will not listen to anyone ('ontie obiara') when he disengages his scud missiles in the region?

The man with impeccable academic record has been provoked by drop-outs who have acquired filthy monies and are bribing everyone who come their way? That they want to see the man with impeccable academic record out of Parliament, more so when he is a Northerner? Aoo, 'aboa bi beka wo, a, na ofra ntoma ampah'. It becomes more dangerous when the 'ntoma' is of 'Dumas' fabric.

Last week I watched a documentary on UTV which focused on the lives of 'kayaayee' in Agbogbloshie in Accra. As I kept on following the documentary, tears started rolling down my cheeks. The programme centered on a young girl of the Northern extraction who by all intents was a teenager. She has a baby boy of less than two years. Accompanying her was another young teenager who is her sister. By noon, they had not made money but were hungry. She bought GHC1.00 banku with some okro soup without fish or meat and shared it with her kid sister. Meanwhile her child was sitting on her lap but not partaking in the meal.

When asked why she was not feeding the child her response was that the child does not like 'banku' and that she was waiting for a certain rice seller so she could buy GHC.50 of rice for the child. Indeed the rice-seller eventually came, she bought the cooked rice with oil but had no stew to go with. This poor child had to eat this, perhaps as his main meal. I immediately thought about those impeccably educated Northerners in government who have had their positions by using the poor people in their areas as stepping stones.

While I admit that there is widespread poverty up north because of our failure as a nation to provide the necessary environment to harness the agricultural and other economic potentials that exist there for their good and our good, the elite in their societies have become selfish and too individualistic in their attitudes towards their fellow men. In the 1970s when articulated trucks became the order of the day in this country, they were mostly owned by Northerners and driven by them. Major contractors have come from that part of this country but their wealth have not impacted on their people.

Contrast that with the South where individuals train their relations in schools or in artisanal work and better still offer them capital to begin their own businesses. Some of the wealthy people from the Northern sector are interested in the slavish services of their unfortunate relations. Just visit the homes of some of these elite Northerners in power today, and one can see people who wash the vehicles in the home, those who sweep, those who wash clothes, cook and do the errands. Those who go to school are the children of the elite master of the house.

Many of them have become filthy rich through ill-gotten monies according to Murtala, while around them and perhaps across the country, a very sad spectacle of young women and men who require just a little of their support to do something very meaningful for themselves in the future prevails. From the accounts of Muritala, what his colleagues normally do is to use their ill-gotten monies from the Republic to pay bribes to opinion leaders to undermine others and create confusion in that part of the country. The next moment they are shouting their voices hoax about the poverty levels among their people and mischievously preach hatred against southerners as if the poverty in the north is the deliberate making of the southerners who are perceived to be rich.

The Murtalas of our political dispensation today are products of envy and inferiority complex, that is why they would easily insult people who deserve their respect and obeisance and blame their woes on their colleagues without any evidence. These are the people managing our lives. Do you need to search anywhere for our woes?

Two tots of my mahogany bitters.
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By Kwesi Biney

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