“A Lion is always a lion and will always remain so”

Thirty-something years ago (between May 15 and June 4) when the young, handsome and affable Flight Lieutenant burst onto the political scene, he had only one goal: To declare to Ghanaians that there were too much greed and avarice in our political system and that change was needed to enhance national development. He had never enrolled in a college or university to read sociology but he felt our country needed a 180 degrees about turn. General Akuffo, Colonel Enninful and the rest of the military junta at that time wished they had silenced him forever but destiny would have none of that. The views articulated by this gentleman made sense or non-sense to four categories of people in our country. The first group was Major Boakye-Djan and his people who, with youthful exuberance embraced his ideas even though they had not met this gentleman to assimilate and digest his theories. They would however risk their lives and get him out of jail, damn the consequences. The second group was the skeptics who listened to him with a pinch of salt. The country was gliding to multiparty democracy and these elderly and mature politicians had invested time, energy and resources in the political discourse and did not want anybody to break the calabash. They did not want any military adventurism to turn back the political clock and more so the initiator of these wild theories was considered as a ‘vagabond’ or ‘rebel’ at the military barracks. The third group was the masses who did not know which side of the coin to be on. Within this group were genuine young men and women who thought his message was in the fullness of time to build a nation endowed with opportunities. Most of these guys were prepared to sacrifice their lives to build a better Ghana that would be enviable to the world. This was the leaderless group and unfortunately got hooked like sheep without a good shepherd. I must admit that I was part of this group though I was very young and wished to be at college at that time but my aspirations did not take me anywhere. The last group of people were those who had political ambitions but found it difficult to break through the glass ceiling. They conferred amongst themselves and saw the political fissure created as an opportunity to liberate themselves. The Flight Lieutenant’s political thoughts were garbage to these guys yet they pretended to be disciples of his new ‘gospel’. Professors or university teachers who had preached and practiced socialism had instantly become pseudo-capitalists and rubber sole shoes had made way for Italian made shoes. Snippets of information from the grapevine indicated that the Flight Lieutenant would give these guys dirty slaps as corrective measures to force them conform to his beliefs. Mr. N. Arkaah, and others who I will not disclose all had the privilege of enjoying hard knocks and political sound bites, yet information envoys from the castle would vehemently defend the ‘roaring King’ and pretend nothing had happened. While some felt dignity was more important than deals, Joyce Aryee, Anaa Naamua Enin, Susan Ahlassan, Mensa Wood, Agyekum Kufuor, Mike Gizo and others left with dignity. The plan hatched by those who stayed that is to say the last group, was to make the ‘roaring King’ senile or to enervate him after some time and take over wings of government or his party. But a Lion is always a lion even if it is domesticated, and as long as the mental faculties of Mr. Rawlings are apt, he will not be silenced. The former president could not be tamed and he’s wiser now and he’s going to roar because he has been made to believe by those ‘hangers on’ that he is the King of the forest and besides him and his beliefs nobody is capable of saving our dear country. Now the chicken is coming home to roost and these socialists turned full-fledged capitalists are running for cover. The can of worms is opened now and everything will be spilled out. Success should always be achieved through hard work and not through deceit or graft. Mark it dear Ghanaian.

Koduah Owusu Ansah; kowusuansah11@gmail.com

Denver, Colorado

PS. Koduah holds a MS degree in Landscape Horticulture from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, US