“Take Mr. Domelevo, for example. Had he not decided to put Ghana first against every free logic, and defended integrity at the expense of free crumbs from the master’s table, he would probably be sitting by his official desk by now, sipping hot black coffee, free of worry, free of all executive opprobrium too, and the CSO’s would have better application of their time, and I would not burn the midnight oil composing this epistle, that I know would add nothing at all to his betterment.”

My brother had a favorite aphorism that translates to something like this: “If your brother is sitting up the tree, you don’t eat unripe fruit.”

So he would say to me, “Kudjo, Anyone who eats a piece of ripe fruit while on the tree, and passes a few chunks to you under the tree is your brother. Don’t pull him down!”

My young mind did not understand the complexities of this simple aphorism then, for I asked myself, why should the man on the tree please himself with all the delights, glories and delicacies of the original fruit, while I am consigned to planning my family dinner on the crumbs from his table?

But now that I have come of age, and have experienced a little of the world’s unpleasantries, the truth of this aphorism has come home to me, and I have transmogrified to become its number one advocate, for as they say, do not destroy the hand that feeds you, even if it is crooked.

So for all those who still wonder why almost everyone is becoming an active politician in Ghana by falling either for the NDC or NPP, this is the concept: the hand that feeds you, though crooked, illegitimate, unstable, paralyzed, bleached, dangerous, dark, libidinous, drunken, irritating, dreadful, devious, incongruous, vile, cacophonous, dirty, dry or wry, is worth the prop, less you forfeit your regular crumbs!

Thus, for the sake of the stomach, making sure it receives its regular rations of crumbs from the national tree to keep body and soul together, the smartest of our people would rather die for a political party than sacrifice for a national cause.

Take Mr. Domelevo, for example. Had he not decided to put Ghana first against every free logic, and defended integrity at the expense of free crumbs from the master’s table, he would probably be sitting by his official desk by now, sipping hot black coffee, free of worry, free of all executive opprobrium too, and the CSO’s would have better application of their time, and I would not burn the midnight oil composing this epistle, that I know would add nothing at all to his betterment.

In this world, it is wiser to make friends than enemies. Guys like Domelevo who parade themselves as apostles of integrity would always go on executive leave, while those who choose wisdom over folly would have the king for their friend, and enjoy the crumbs of riches for all their faithfulness.