*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“The CPP Youths have faulted the NDC for rehabilitating the house of the mother
of Konadu Rawlings for her to move in, while neglecting Mrs. Fulera Limann, [the
wife of Dr. Hilla Limann] who was a First Lady before her” (Abridged From
JoyFMOnline, July 13, 2010).

Fellow Ghanaians dig deeper
Dig deeper into our soiled past
Our collective archives of trauma
From 1979 to the present
See JJ’s seismic political wreck
Wreckage of Fathia Nkrumah
Naa Morkor Busia and all
Spouses of Acheampong & co
Spouses of the murdered Judges
Victims of JJ’s predatory rampage
Their families, their seized wealth
JJ the self-righteous messiah
The self-righteous freeloader

Ah! Fulera Limann
Korle-Bu bills bankrupted Limann
Fulera couldn’t foot the bills either
Not from her tie-and-dye trade
JJ had impoverished Limann
Limann died sadly
Like a rat in a bush fire
Limann had no place to run to
Never had overseas healthcare
Korle-Bu bills bankrupted Limann
Limann never took on a Paul Gyamfi
JJ’s name at a hospital overseas
Paid for by the state
Rawlings’ seasons of hypocrisy
Of impoverishing us
Of enriching himself/family

Mrs. Fulera Limann
Has no Nsawam Cannery
Has not milked women’s movements
Has not bought a Jacuzzi
Has not bought costly flower vases
Has no Mom’s house to go to
Her husband Limann died penniless
Fulera has worked all her life

Konadu has it all
Never worked in life
Never has been a housewife
Dozens of willing housemaids
Dozens of subdued security men
Guards with her murderous keys
Keys that killed the judges
Eh! JJ and Yaa Konadu
The multimillionaires
Of Adjiringano
Of Sogakope
Of Afram Plains
Of a fleet of cars
Of speedboats for killing flies
Of overseas education of kids
Of free food, housing for 31 years
The Chief Fire Officer
He who burns without ashes

And NDC did it all
For the homeless millionaires
Refurbished Konadu’s Mom’s house
Ungrateful GREEDY BASTARDS
Hoping to remold the ashes of Ridge

Dr. Hilla Limann
A man of honor
Pushed his tired car
His aging, battered car
Never had JJ’s post- 2000 16 cars
Never toyed with Air Force planes
Toy-teaching his daughters how to fly
Never joy-rode in bullet-proof cars
Never had an Adjiringano
A Sogakope
An Afram Plain farmhouse
Some overseas mansions
Never educated his kids overseas
Never burnt down any house
Never killed any judge
Never brutalized Makola women
Never sold an Nsawam to Fulera

But JJ demonized Limann
As JJ has demonized all others
Nkrumah
Busia
Acheampong
Kufour
Even his Swedru bastard: Mills
Mills of benumbing bastardies

NDC do unto Fulera
Konadu has it all
Fulera does not
Do unto Fulera
What you’ve done for Konadu
Let us shatter the genealogy of lies
Shatter the insidious acidic politics
Insidious narratives of the Rawlingses
Their deceitful conceited meta-narratives
Their mesmerizing political wreck
Their virus of our post-1979 postcolony
Their archive of our collective trauma
That has mummified us in despair

*Akadu N. 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