End Castle “Tribalism” to Bring Diversity to Unity

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, PhD

“[In a presidential broadcast, President John Mahama] said there is no reason why

the unity achieved in the period of mourning of the late President John Mills should

fade away… There is no reason why we cannot continue to stand united, and to move

forward as one. There is no reason why our differences have to divide us or turn us

into adversaries, especially not our political differences. When it comes to the

practice of peace and unity, we Ghanaians have always been exemplary. Whether we

support Hearts of Oak or Asante Kotoko, when it’s time for the Black Stars to play,

we are indivisible” (Ghanaweb August 15, 2012).

President John Mahama

Let your sunrise be a new history

Time to end all “Adze Pa wo Ofie”

To end all FORMS of “Adze Pa”

Time to end the slave Castle “tribalism”

Of one thousand “tribesmen” in one office

Time to end nepotism

Of your brother getting all contracts

Time to end cronyism

Of Kufour’s son buying a hotel

Time to end favoritism

Of Mills’ son having a state bungalow

Time to end all preferences

Time to use diversity as unity

Time to use accountability as unity

Unity without diversity is atypicality

Unity without probity is atypicality

Let unity ring

So let diversity ring

So let probity ring

The fuel of unity is diversity

The fuel of unity is probity

Time to end “Adze Pa wo Ofie”

President Mahama

We hail your address to the nation

That coursed through all

East & West

South & North

That woke us all

From past contradictions

Today is your dawn

On the eaves of homes

Peace is still

At the dawn of your Presidency

A new rainfall on the eaves

Of hope

Of inspiration

You drummed

Unity, unity

You solemnize, poise unity

Harkening to the Asomdweehene

Mills, the Chieftain of Peace

Mills’ seasons of contradictions

Of peace that brought violence

The mayhem of foot-soldiers

The dictatorial orthodoxy of BNI

The political baiting of appointees

The democratization of tribalism

President Mahama

Unity

Unity

And unity

Soothing sound of empowerment

Soothing sounds conscientization

Soothing sounds liberation

Sounds alone are noise

President Mahama

It must be UNITY

With DIVERSITY

With INCLUSIVITY

No more Adze Pa wo Fie

No democratization of tribalism

Dismantle “tribal” appointments

Let unity and diversity ring

In Bono

In Nzema

In Gomoa

In Agona

In Fante

In Ga-Adangbe

In Akuapem

In Akyem

In Dwaben

In Asante

In Bono

In the Volta

In the “North”

In Denkyira

In Agona

In Akwamu

In Kwahu

In every corner of Ghana

Let unity and diversity ring

With inclusivity

With accountability

With adoptability

With agreeability

With amicability

President Mahama

Time to end the Castle “tribalism”

The hegemony of the minority

Time to use diversity as a pathway

Unity without diversity is atypicality

So let unity ring

So let diversity ring

So let probity ring

The fuel of unity is diversity

Time to end all “Adze Pa wo Ofie”

*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.