*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema

President John Mahama’s special appointees to spearhead the execution of the President’s Special Projects: Alban Bagbin, Cletus Avoka, Dr. Stephen Ayidiga! Why are they all “Northerners”? Let us think and ask new questions. This office must be diversified. Mahama pontificates about inclusion, but uses exclusionary “tribalistic” tools as his instruments of policy.

Ah! These “Tribal” appointments
My delirious critics
Flaunting preposterous victory laps
Flaunting pedagogic vanities
Flaunting pivoted narratives
Of exclusionisms
Of hubristic arrogance
Like vultures in dance
Like house flies in dance
Like mosquitoes in dance
My delirious critics are dunce-ing

Ah! These “Tribal” appointments
My delirious critics
They tell me JJ did it
They tell me Kufour was bad
They tell me Mills was the worse
So they tell me Mahama should do it
They tell me Mahama can be the worst
And they poise withering darts at me
Bearing insinuations
Bearing insults
Bearing cacophonies
They call me all sorts of names
Akadu the slut
Akadu the prostitute
Akadu the community college prof
Akadu the bigot
They call me all sorts of names
For being bold, blunt and brave
For speaking truth to power
For telling them what they already know
For pathing a movement away
From “tribalism”
From cronyism
From nepotism
From regionalism
From corruption
From pen-armed robbery
They call me all sorts of names
For telling them we should cradle it all
Inclusion to sew up our divides
Unity to bring us together
Diversity to make us whole
Equity to promote excellence
They call me names
They say it is their season of harvest
Of “tribalistic” harvests
Of “tribalistic” plunder
But all seasons wither
They ask why I didn’t critique Kufour
As if Kufour is the beginning and end of time
As if my watershed flows both ways

So let us celebrate “tribalism”
Our seasons of anomic politics
Our seasons of anemic politics
Our seasons of anomalous politics
Let us celebrate Mahama
For he is becoming the worst “tribalist”
Yes, JJ did it
Yes, Kufour did
Yes, Atta Mills did
So Mahama must do it
So let us celebrate “tribalism”
Our seasons of anomic politics
Our seasons of anemic politics
Our seasons of anomalous politics

A PARTIAL LIST OF MAHAMA'S “NORTHNERLIZED” CABINET
(Source: Office of the President at Flagstaff House, Accra, Ghana).

1. Moses Asaga - Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA)
2. Dr. Raymond Akongburo Atuguba - Executive Secretary to the President
3. Dr. Clement Apaak – Presidential Staffer
4. Dr. Sulley Gariba - Senior Policy Co-ordinator in the Office of the President
5. Abdulai John Jinapor - Deputy Minister of energy and petroleum
6. Mark Owen Woyongo - Minister for Defence
7. Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan - Inspector General of Police (IGP)
8. Patrick Timbillah – Ghana Police, Director-General of Human Resources Development
9. Amin Amidu Sulemana - Minister for Roads and Highways
10. H. Seidu Daanaa - Minister for Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs
11. Alhaji Nasiru Isahaku - 2nd Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana
12. Alhaji Mohammed Suraji - Director of the Community Police Unit
13. Alhaji Imoro Alhassan – Executive Director Ghana National Service Scheme
14. Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed - Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Development Authorities in the Office of the President
15. Alhaji Alhassan Azong - Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Public Sector Reform
16. Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru - Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Human Resource Development and Scholarships
17. Alhaji Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo - Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Public-Private Partnerships
18. Alhaji Haruna Iddrisu - Minister for Trade and Industry
19. Alhaji Inusah Fuseini - Minister for Lands and Natural Resources
20. Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu - Chief Director of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing
21. Dr. B. Bewa-Nyog Kunbuor - Minister in-charge of Government Business
22. Mahama Ayariga - Minister for Information and Media Relations
23. Collins Dauda - Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing
24. Nayon Bilijo - Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development
25. Joyce Bawah Mogtari - Deputy Ministry of Transport
26. Ephraim Avea Nsoh - Upper East Region
27. Bede Anwataazumo Ziedeng - Upper West Region
28. Moses Bukari Mabengba - Northern Region
29 -31. Mahama’s special appointees to spearhead the execution of the President’s Special Projects:
29. Alban Bagbin
30. Cletus Avoka
31. Dr. Stephen Ayidiga
32. Suhiyini Alhassan (Radio DJ) now - Board member of the Airport Company
33. James Agalga – Deputy Ministry of Interior
34. Dr. Tia Sugri – Deputy Ministry of Health
35. Dr. Alhassan Ahmed Yakubu –Deputy Ministry of Food & Agriculture
36. Benjamin Dagadu – Deputy Ministry of Energy and Petroleum
37. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed –Deputy Ministry of Information & Media Relations
38. Mohammed Baba Ahmed Jamal –Deputy Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development
39. Dr. Musheibu Mohammed- Alfa - Deputy Ministry of Environment, Science, Tech & Innovation
40. A.B.A. Fuseini - Deputy Regional Minister for the Northern Region
41. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine – Deputy Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department

**AKADU Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D., is a nationalist Denkyira beauty. She is a trained oral historian cum sociologist and Professor in the USA. She lives in Pennsylvania with her great mentor and teaches Africa-area studies at a college in Maryland. In her pastime, she writes what critics have called “populist hyperbolic, satirical” poetry. She can be reached at akadumensema@yahoo.com. Her poems and essays on Ghanaweb and elsewhere must not be reproduced in full or in part for any academic or scholarly work without her written permission.