*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.