Eureka Ghana Has Done It!

On Wednesday June 6 she’d virtually found herself on the ropes. Like a boxer in a ring forced back to lean against them for support. It appeared she’d had her jaw and nose broken. The deadly blow from the Anas’ undercover documentary on GFA (Ghana Football Association) had sent her into comatose. But she didn’t die. She Survived!

By Thursday morning she was all over the world major news outlets ---they were discussing her. They say gossip is just news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress.. But this wasn’t a gossip. This is a real news still trending in Ghana

There’s an Irish idiom about rumor it goes like this: ‘Many a time a man’s mouth broke his nose’.

I woke up on Friday morning at about 7:30am Pacific Time with a laughter. The laugh was irresistible. Evidently, the manufacturers of fake news had produced something so beguiling. A tweet supposedly from Ghana’s investigative czar— Special Kwesi Peter is all over the social media.

“If you know you’re caught in the Anas’ video kindly wait for me in front of my office first thing tomorrow morning. (That means today Friday).

‘Don’t let me waste my credit to call you,” says the tweet.

Did Mr. Martin Amidu really tweet this?
Nyantakyi knighted as Sheikh
It’s mostly pronounced shaik. It’s an honorific title in the Arabic language—meaning a ruler or chief of a tribe. Ghana’s embattled GFA Boss Kwesi Nyantakyi was reported to have said on the Anas #12 investigative footage that he’d take over Ghana. Was that a wishful thinking? It seems he’s going down the drain rather...but not so disdainfully. All the 500 radio stations nationwide are discussing him today. Not even the first gentleman of the land or the first family or the first man who brought cocoa to Ghana.

But many are also waiting for another subterfuge piece titled: ‘Who watches the Watchman.’ Talkative Ken is on warpath with Anas—the ubiquitous. Fellow countrymen let’s grant him ears too. That’s the beauty of democracy (‘dempokrachie’). You can’t get it anywhere in the world except my native Ghana.

O ‘I love this nation. Ghanaians are people with great sense of humor. When you it’s a rumor it turns out to be humor. And when you think it’s just a major issue they treat it as minor. I wonder how John Major –former British premier would mirror this?

Harry hurry up, lest we’d miss the 12 O’clock news bulletin.

I hear a voice from afar. It’s a news jingle being played by Radio Ghana. Yes, I think they just finished it.

Zzzzzz This is Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). The time is 12 O’clock here’s the news read by yours truly:

First the headlines—Bank of Ghana issues a new GHC12 Bill with immediate effect. Ghana Introduces a New Bus called # 12 and Accra unveils its newest suburb, the Twelfth-town.

And now the details: President Akufo-Addo has charged the Governor of Bank of Ghana (BOG) to issue with immediate effect a new GHc 12 bill. The new GHc12 bill has the picture of Sheikh Kwesi Nyantakyi ---the embattled Ghana Football Association (GFA0 president.

The move, according to yours truly, is to mark the 12-mile journey embarked upon by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

Sheikh Nyantakyi is one of the many GFA officials who were captured in the Anas’ latest undercover documentary titled #12 that allegedly received bribes to influence football matches either local, national or international.

Most Ghanaians are said to be livid about the president’s directive. It’s not clear whether all the first 12 ‘Apostles’ will be honoured as he’s done for Sheikh Nyantakyi. It’s also unclear if the new bill would be able to stand the test of time. It’s understood to be the biggest football scandal that’s ever rocked the west African sub region.

It’s12 minutes past the hour 12. And all the 12 ‘Apostles’ have gathered at the courtyard of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) getting ready to break bread. At a breakneck speed I thought I could catch Bus number 12 on my way to Twelfth-town in downtown Accra. But I sorely missed it. Why?

I was told only the swift (those that can pull a fast one) can catch Bus number 12.

Yes, Ghana has broken all the 12 rules of the beautiful game. Ghana now has Sheikh Nyantakyi as its shadow Governor of the central bank—Bank of Ghana. Thou shalt not take bribe, its football officials had taken bribes. Thou shalt not put monies in either white or brown envelopes, they did. Thou shalt not brag and run your mouth like ‘nika-nika’ the GFA president did that. Thou shalt not put monies in black polythene bags Sheikh Nyantakyi broke that rule and many more.

Indeed the new GHc12 note has GFA boss image embossed. Sheikh Nyantakyi is now the ruler of all that he surveys. He has a pocket probably as large as a barge. It’s called the wonder pocket. The pocket that has proclivity to drown the great and the champs. How wide is it? I don’t think I’ve an answer to that question. But I think it’s wide enough to store a lot of bucks—the green bills.

So it’s a new day and it seems everything is anew. Don’t worry if you couldn’t catch up what’s also trending in Ogyakrom. I hear there’s fire on Mount Afadjato. Some top CEO’s have already been sacked and more are yet to follow.

The Elephant-sized ministerial appointment that sparked public uproar in early 2017 would for the first time get pruned anytime soon, according to the grapevine. The well-known musical chairs would soon come to play. And I’m sure by the time the music abruptly stops, there will be some ministers who would be unable to find a chair to sit on in their respective ministries at the ministry enclave in the capital Accra.

Why now?
Well I think it couldn’t have come at a better time. The governing NPP appears to dancing with some ‘Super Stars’. Those with unconventional moves that tend to put them ahead of or outdo Nana Addo their boss and president. It’s about time the Elephant put its house in order.

No doubt, a reshuffle is the way to go. The practice is common in parliamentary system of government but it’s also not uncommon in a presidential one. A reshuffle is when when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in its cabinet.

But from where I sit I think this one needs more than rotational shifts. This isn’t an open cast mine. This is a deep mine—an underground mining. Incompetence, corruption, under performance could account for this game change. And I urge the president to sharpen his small axe and cut down any tree deemed cantankerous or stubborn.

And Anthony Bourdain dies. The ‘Parts Unknown’ celebrity 61, died in apparent suicide—CNN.