EDITORIAL: They Have Woken Up!!!

Rev. Dr. Aboagye Mensah and his sidekicks have finally woken up from their five-year long deep, deep slumber and have started taking notice of events taking place around them. Hooray.

But then, perhaps not surprisingly, it had to take President Rawlings to wake them from their slumber.

Well, dear ?men of God?, while you were asleep a whole lot of events took place in this dear country of ours and we sorely missed your ?good? counsel on these matters. Now that you have finally woken up, would it be too much to ask you to comment on a few of the things that happened while you were asleep? We hope not.

Just so we can bring you to speed with some of the these events, dear ?men of God?; while you were asleep, the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, was murdered in cold blood and his body dismembered, while the dismembered portions of his body were used as trophies with which his killers were said to have paraded the streets of Yendi.

Dear ?men of God?, to date not a single individual has been held accountable for this heinous crime, notwithstanding the fact that the Ya-Na was killed in broad-daylight after three days of sustained gunfire.

Indeed, some of the people at whom accusing fingers pointed have rather been rewarded with even higher promotions.

Dear ?men of God?, while you were asleep President Rawlings asserted that he has reason to believe that some members of Mr. Kufuor?s ?kitchen Cabinet? had a hand in the serial killing of women that rocked this country, especially the capital, prior to the 2000 elections.

He challenged the government to make available lie-detector facilities, or even chemical interrogations, to which he promised to subject himself for interrogation on any matter, including the killing of the three high court judges and a retired military officer, after which he would also list fifteen names of members of Mr. Kufuor?s ?kitchen cabinet? to undergo similar interrogation on the serial murder of our women in 2000. He asserted that the mastermind(s) behind the serial killings would be found among the fifteen persons he would mention.

While you were asleep, dear ?men of God, a fugitive from justice, who is wanted on charges of murder, was brought into this country and given five-star treatment, under a so-called ?safe passage? deal. Even when his supposed ?safe passage? elapsed, he was harboured and entertained at the taxpayers? expense. What is worse, he was brought back into the country at a later date, housed and entertained at our expense.

While you were asleep, dear ?men of God, the 2004 elections took place with a lot of underhand dealings that but for the fortitude of the leaders of the biggest opposition party, this country might well have been on its way to becoming another war zone in West Africa.

Certainly, the name Pru cannot mean much to you since you were too busy sleeping. However, for your information, our ?dear men of God,? Pru is the name of one of the constituencies where supporters of the ruling party seized and burnt materials used in the elections and forced an electoral officer to declare the ruling party victorious. It turned out that the largest opposition party had actually won that constituency with a margin of over ten thousand votes. Indeed Pru was not an isolated case, but since you were asleep, you may not know.

Dear ?men of God,? while you were asleep Alhaji Mobilla became the first Ghanaian civilian to die in Military custody since the inception of the fourth republic.

Alhaji Mobilla submitted himself into the custody of the Police, but he was transferred under rather bizarre circumstances into Military custody where he was brutalised, tortured, and eventually killed. To date, not a single person has been held accountable for this dastardly act.

Again, while you were asleep, the Minister of Finance, presumably under the instruction of the President, actually instructed state agencies to disregard laws passed the sovereign parliament of the republic of Ghana. Thus betraying the contempt in which the President and his Ministers hold the institution of Parliament.

Our dear ?men of God?, while you were asleep, many, many, many things happened. But for space constraints we could go on and on, however, we are thankful to President Rawlings that he has been able to wake you up from your stupor-like slumber.

Now that you are awake, dear ?men of God?, please let us have your ?good? counsel on these matters as well as other matters you may deem pertinent.

We eagerly await your ?good counsel? on these matters.

Big, big thanks to President Rawlings