*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, PhD



“President John Mahama is promising the people of the Upper West Region massive

road construction in all corners of the region if he wins the December election. The

President admits the Upper West region seriously lags behind as compared to other

regions in terms of good roads.” (Ghanaweb, November 5, 2012)



Mahama is full of promises

Withering promises

Like the dry savanna grass

The new vulture in the air

Gliding over carcasses

Salivating over the dead

Yet promising life

Vacuous promises



Mahama is promising all

Dripping with hubris

The rented president

His seductive promises

Appealing to “tribe,” region

Appealing to visceral notions

Appealing to ontological wounds

Fooling all

Falling over himself

As he de-robes Ghanaians

As he de-flowers Ghanaians

The impoverished masses

The benighted masses

Ah! In the backwater North

Ah! In the backwood North

Where votes are kinship

Where votes send sons to flee

Flee to the joys of the South

Free to return on Election Day

To make sanguinary promises

Of lack of roads

Of schools under trees

Of fratricidal combats

These are the promises

Championed by Northern elites



The caretaker president

In charge of Mills’ death

Yet has not explained Mills’ death

Caretaker of Mills’ grave

Curator of Mills’ office

Is screaming

Is shouting

Is hollering

Is blaring

Is shrieking

Is squealing

Is yelling

Above Mills’ grave

That Mahama contracted to Chinese



Mahama

The custodian of the Slave Castle

Mahama is enslaving Ghanaians

Benighting all

Promising all

Empty promises

Shallow promises

Promising new roads

Amidst NDC’s uncompleted roads

Promising new schools

Amidst NDC’s schools under trees

Promising new healthcare

Amidst NDC’s deathcare

Promising national unity

Amidst NDC’s divisive tribalism

Promises electricity

Amidst NDC blaming God for dumso

Promises moral probity

Amidst Mahama’s sexual decadence

Promises fiscal accountability

Amidst NDC’s Woyomization



Mahama is full of promises

Withering promises

Like the dry savanna grass

The new vulture in the air

Gliding over carcasses

Salivating over the dead

Yet promising life

Vacuous promises



*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 My poems and essays on Ghanaweb

and elsewhere must not be reproduced in full or in part for any academic or

scholarly work without my written permission.