*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

Ghana’s Parliament has officially written a rejoinder to the Editors of
Africawatch Magazine expressing discontent about its recently published
political performance index which included MPs. The Africawatch’s grading of
Ministers of State and the Executive, has generated a lot of discussions and
vitriolic attacks from MPs who scored poor marks per the ratings (Ghanaweb
October 26, 2010)

Africawatch said it all
Sermonized on behalf of millions
Millions of silenced Ghanaians
Impoverished, benighted
Poverty-baked Ghanaians
Represented by selfish MPs

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
Africawatch said it all
MPs like birds with broken wings
Sauntering to the precipice
Hurtling on winds of anomy
Gasping for political breath
Free fall onto rocks of chaos
Chasing after cars/tractors
Cars to map out Volta Hall
Charting avenues of debauchery

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
Who only wait in Parliament
Posing as sentries of democracy
Poised in arrogance
Posing in a crucible of filth
Pivoting car dreams as hope
Piloting hopelessness

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
Their hopeless achievements
Sunning on cars
Mooning in cars
Brimming in cars
Their only teamwork
Is making policy on car loans

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
MPs go find fruitful things to do
Look at the eyes of the sun
Discuss our beautiful garbage
Garbage that has entombed us
Buried Parliament House
Discuss our poor healthcare
The stench of Korle-Bu wards
Odors emanating from 37 Hospital
Decaying Tetteh Quarshie Hospital
Putrefaction gracing Efia Nkwanta
Dilapidated Okomfo Anokye

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
Africawatch said it all
Go discuss our poor roads
Discuss the rising cost of living
Discuss schools under trees
Discuss teeming street kids

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
MPs silenced by cars
Cacophonic car engines
Loans mourning for repayment
Loans birthed every four years
Loans granted every four years
Cars in mud-pit called roads
MPs who chair all chairs
Except their chairs in Parliament
MPs who chair all chairs
Funeral chairs
Child-naming chairs
Marriage chairs
Birthday party chairs

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
MPs with car-go mentality
Cars are the only thing they fight for
Cars to be showcased on cratered roads
Cars to supervise school under trees
Cars as women die in childbirth
Cars as our hospitals become morgues

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
Hollow wo/men
Shallow wo/men
Silent MPs
Who dream about cars
Whose voices sound like car horns
Cacophonic voices

Our hopeless MPs
The every-four-year car thieves
Whose only achievement
Consensus, non-partisan flame
Is making policy on car loans
Africawatch said it all
Sermonized on behalf of millions
Millions of silenced Ghanaians
Impoverished, benighted
Poverty-baked Ghanaians
Represented by selfish MPs

*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