Birim River: Okyeman Beauty Raped by Capitalist Fangs

*By Akadu N. Mensema Ph. D.; Post-Grad. Dipl.

“If appropriate measures are not taken early to save the Birim River,

which is a source of water supply to many Ghanaians living along the

banks, from being polluted by some selfish and greedy miners, the river

would be dead, thereby denying millions of people access to drinking

water” (Ghanaweb Jan 12, 2010).

I. BIRIM: AKYEM GODDESS

Birim, the Okyeman beauty

Wombed in the Atewa Range

And birthed in endless Kyebi

The soul of Akyem

The talented, sparkling goddess

That brings smiles to Okyeman

That caresses the forest

That yarns diamond and gold

Fabric of Akyem craftspersons of old

Gold the eminent headgear of Okyenhene

Diamond the constitution of Okyeman

Birim

The home of proud golden crabs

The birthplace of poised mudfish

Birim that soothes the throats of thirst

The artery of evergreen farmlands

Birim of eternal Akyem

II. BIRIM IS GHANA TODAY

Birim is going the way of Korle Lagoon

Birim mirrors the whole Ghana

Where dirt is greased on as pomade

Where putrefaction and decay

Erosion and twin corrosion

Where environmental decrepitude

Of littering human projectiled feces

Of Aburokyire junk in Sodom/Gomorrah

Of Aburokyire used underwear, winter boots

Cherished as Whites’ designer items

Of used plastic containers and bags

Of gutters overflowing with putrid pride

All of which choke Mother Earth

III. SIBLINGS OF BIRIM

Birim is going the way of Korle Lagoon

And so is the Pra, Volta, Densu, Ankobra

But so are our forests

Where Odum is the sugarcane of Capitalism

Where animals are poached to extinction

Birim gold, diamond

Aborted for miragic foreign exchange

Feeds elite egotism and maniacal corruption

So is Mother’s Obuasi, Tarkwa, Akwatia

Where gold, diamond, bauxite are slayed

Slayed in the womb of Mother Earth

Carnage, poison, toxic, pollution

That desecrates Mother Earth’s children

Oh! Birim is dying

IV. BIRIM: A SEND-OFF

Birim, the center of Akyem ontology

The diamond sibling of the Pra

Gold the currency of Ofori-Panyin Fie

Birim the child of Mother Earth

Raped for its gold, diamond

Is going the way of Korle Lagoon

A symptom of our way of life

That denies another sunrise

That knows not tomorrow

Oh! Old pristine Akyem Birim

Birim’s crabs are today no longer heroic

Birim’s venerable mudfish are homeless

Desecrated gold has eclipsed the Birim

And yet we cheer toxic gold, diamond

Nana Okyenhene, Okyeman, Ghanaman

Rescue Birim

From the fawning fangs of capitalism

*Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema 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