*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“The outspoken MP for the Lower Manya constituency, Hon. Michael Teye Nyaunu, has
taken a swipe at the General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia,
saying it is unfortunate for him to describe ex-President JJ Rawlings, who once fed
him as a ‘barking dog.’ According to him, Mr. Nketiah, whose moniker in the
political landscape is popularly known as ‘General Mosquito’ used to receive rice,
sugar and other allocations monthly from former president Rawlings when the NDC was
in opposition” Ghanaweb October 19, 2011).

I. P/NDC POOR IN OPPOSITION
NDC in opposition
The Asiedu Nketiahs
Looking like vultures
Vultures in empty caves
Dirty, scrawny
Without prey
Lean and hungry
Fetid beaks & claws
Hollow, sunken cheeks
Decaying, stunted grey hair
Gangrened, wrinkled necks
Putrefied, swollen armpits
Poised for carcasses of wealth

The Mosquito Nketiahs
Killers of the dream
We know them all
NDC gurus
NDC agents
NDC chiefs
Stomach politicians
Elitist pen-robbers
Three years in power
They swagger in stolen gold
Wallow in condescension
Clad in stolen state wealth
Hire private jets to weddings
Building mansions, palaces
Exploring Ghana in SUVS
Exploiting young girls in SUVs

II. POOR JJ TO THE RESCUE
JJ is a hero to many
The unsung hero of wealth
The vulture on all carcasses
The vulture of filthy billionaires
The Ahwois
The Tsikatas
The Obed Asamoahs
The ET Mensahs
The Asiedu Nketiahs
All P/NDC Mosquitoes
Ah! Where would they be
Oh! What would they do
Hmm! Without the help of JJ
Poor JJ assisted by shadowy friends
Poor, poor JJ assists shady friends
Ungrateful JJ-made billionaires
Have unleashed the poor wild dog
Poor wild barking dog of our time

Poor JJ is a hero to many
Unsung hero of wealth
Poor JJ has it all
Poor, poor JJ feeds all
JJ has it all, supplies all
Keta School Boys to Mills
Cotton for Ms. Cotton
Yam, cocoyam
Yoke gari (credited)
Rice, sugar, water
Bread, kenkey, banku
Plantain & akpele
Wee/Ntampe, cigars
Ah! Mosquito Nketiah
Eh! Mosquito got it all
Hmm! JJ fed Mosquitoes

III. TIME TELLS ALL
The gods speak for us
Time is on our side
The voiceless
The marginalized
The benighted
Impoverished, helpless
Through bloody mosquitoes
Whining bloody mosquitoes
Time is on our side
Time tells all, all
The gods speak for us
For the impoverished
For the voiceless
For the marginalized
For the benighted
The gods speak for us
We know the POOR
We know the THEIVES
We know the RAGS-TO-RICH
We know the “BARKING DOG”
The killers of our postcolonial dreams
Nativizing poverty, Africanizing poverty
Liberalizing the cremation of the postcolony
Oh! Rise up, rise up, rise up, all rise up
Rise up to chain elitist thieves & the barking dog


*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