*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, PhD

“President John Mahama has asked Ghanaians to emulate the generosity of the spirit
that was characteristic of the life of the late president John Atta Mills and
forgive those who vilified him. President Mahama was addressing a sea of mourners at
the Efua Sutherland Park where thousands of Ghanaians converged for the One Week
remembrance of the late President Mills” (Ghanaweb July 31, 2012).

**AN ASIDE: What did Efua Sutherland contribute to national development that
necessitates naming a building at the University of Ghana, Legon, and a park after
her? Yes, she wrote some plays and contributed to education and empowerment of
women. That said, there are other Ghanaians who made better contributions to our
national growth and conscientization. From my standpoint, the elevation of the
Sutherlands, for example, borders on privileging elitism! When shall we have parks
and buildings named after all the heroes of the 1948 “Riots” – let us call it a
REVOLUTION - the Hilla Limans, etc.

Prez John Mahama
It is not yet sunrise
The clouds still have tears
Don’t be impetuous
Like a vulture on the dead
First forgive yourself and all
All the Castle slavemasters
You who held Mills captive
You who soared on silence
Soared on the vilified Mills
It is you who need forgiveness
All those who exploited Mills
Mills’ lethargic leadership
Leadership piloted by illness
Illness nursed by greedy bastards
Like vultures feeding on the dead
It is you who need cleanliness

Today Mahama is casting blame
Yesterday, he was a complicit vulture
Remained silent as Mills was vilified
The Mahamas remained unvoiced
The Mahamas signed contracts
The Mahamas made huge deals
The Mahamas paid judgment debts
The Mahamas of greedy bastards
As Mills drowned from it all
From Chemotherapy
From Radiation
From being drowsy
From sleep-inducing medicine
From being incoherent in public
Ah! The seasons of Mills’ anomy
It was the harvests for the Mahamas

John Mahama
Now I know JJ was right
Ah! To question Mills’ leadership
To call you great greedy bastards
Bastards who exploited Mills
Mills the sick man in Castle chains
You forced Mills to jog in sickness
Like a sick rat seeking its grave
Bastards who imprisoned a sick man
Like a slave in the ghastly Slave Castle
Instead of a free man in the Jubilee House

John Mahama has struck gold
Gold of the Castle Presidency
In the dry savanna
Swirling dust is gold
Mahama is cast in dust
In a frenzied dance
Possessed by contortions
Contortions of the truth
Of contorted semantics
Dancing on divisive semantics
Let go divisive politics
Let tyranny of orthodoxy die

John Mahama
Waited in the wings
Silent as Mills was vilified
Reticent as Mills was vilified
Wordless as Mills was vilified
Hushed as Mills was vilified
Mahama was draped in deals
Draped in huge contracts
Waiting for the broken wings
Mills’ broken winds to fold-up
Mahama lurked in the corridors
Like a hungry Castle vulture
Poised for the Mills-prey
Preening his bloody feathers
Preening on to prey on Mills
Sniffing around like a dog
Poised for Mills to step out
To begin the Mahama-hunt

Today, I understand Rawlings
I don’t understand the Mahamas
The Mahamas were silent
Even as Saint JJ vilified Mills
The Mahamas were unvoiced
Poised as Mills was vilified
The Mahamas lied to Ghanaians
The Mahamas forced Mills to jog
Like a diseased rat in a rainstorm
Like a smoked rat in Ridge fire
Mills was slow & unhurried
Like a flea in the Castle’s crevice
Mills was deliberately imprisoned
Like a slave in the savage Castle
The Mahamas were slave-masters
They were the cruel slave-masters

*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.