What A Man Is Worth

Fancy, you have an opportunity to meet your new stepfather. Your mother is bored with your lousy father. She wants something new; a new hot blood penetrating thing in an old skin.

Then, you hear a loud clamour welcoming a stranger outside. Then you all come out.

He is dressed to the tip of his toe; white suit apparel; a white pair of shoes to match.

He has the gold chain on the neck and the wrists like those American beentos.

He has his swag sun glasses; in the armpit is a loaf of 'A One' bread.

He alights from a taxi; 2019 registered.

The smart driver gets down and started moving outshopped items; 25 kg bag of rice; 3 bottles of Fritol oil; a small bag of sugar; a number of tin fishes; bottle water etc etc.

Your new father has arrived well; he comes to impress.

Your mother is dumbfounded; she is overwhelmed. She didnt expect this. This is too much.

Something doesnt add up. She didnt expect a show boy.

She gathered the courage to ask him right before you her children , what the funfair was about .

Then the big revelation.

Your new father had applied for a loan; and it had been pending. The bank called him the previous day to come for his money.

And so on this glorious morning, your new father has dressed to kill to go for the sum; and his romantic sense told him to use a portion of the money to impress your mother.

So , all this funfair in your house is about a bank loan granted to a struggling Ghanaian man coinciding with a love blues.

This is your new father; a man that uses a part of a loan supposed to pay for a piece of land to impress a new flame.

And so we wake up to hear that our Finance Minister organized a party to celebrate a foreign loan granted to our ever poor middle income selves.

This happened under a respectable finance minister who was supposed to be a distinguished business executive .

This happened under a president who had talked about Ghana living without aid.

This is what we get as a replacement of our father in a stepfather.

And Nkrumah that championed a respectable image of the Blackman would be turning in his grave.

A man should be made of substance more than a shirt, a shoe or the drink he loves. .

A man must have respect for himself; he must have pride. A man should not die leaving debts to his children.

The UP tradition has spent its lifetime denigrating what Nkrumah stood for; yet at every opportunity given them they show they aren't worth untying the shoelace of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

I can't imagine myself dancing out of a bank with a bank loan to show off to my family.

I feel like puking when I think about my government having a kenkey party to celebrate a foreign loan.

I feel ashamed as a citizen under this government.

Paul Zowonu

Accra.

#talkingblues