JJ FIRE-man Fuels Dagomba NDC Youth Violence

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.

“Former President Rawlings has thrown his weight behind the actions of the NDC

youth who torched the party’s office and destroyed property in the wake of

ruling on Yaa-Naa’s murder last Tuesday. According to Mr Rawlings, the anger at

the ruling NDC was long overdue, adding that the action of the aggrieved youth

would have been worse, had they not restrained themselves. He therefore

commended them for controlling their anger. ‘I am here to praise them for the

control that they exhibited; that they took it out on the party structures, the

government’s party structures, that is very much justified. I believe an

opportunity is on the horizon for us to do justice,’ he opined” (Ghanaweb, April

3, 2011).

The Andanis, Abudus

The Abudus, Andanis

Great Lions of Dagbon

Landlords of the savanna

The sentries of boldness

Wake up from your stupor

JJ has copiously thanked you

JJ has congratulated you

For embodying violence

For destroying property

For breaking normative laws

For being happily anarchic

And you are joy-riding

On his cartoonish evidence

On JJ’s national follies

Like shea-butter in the sun

Melting into nothingness

JJ is championing violence

His magnetic divisiveness

His cacophonic narcissism

Our brothers, sisters

Our Northern siblings

Time to take the narrative

Narrative of peace-building

Take the narrative from JJ

Rawlings’ narrative of fire

Rawlings is stoking the fire

Fire-ing the ashes of peace

Fire-ing you to violence

Oh! Prez Fante Atta Mills

Sits on JJ’s malignant rage

Sits on JJ’s visceral disrespect

JJ’s blame-casting violence

The NDC’s damaged Prez

Demonized by the Obonsam

The Obonsam FIREman

He who uses FIRE for love

Love on a Valentine’s Day

Konadu danced FIRE dance

Love in savanna-ed Tamale

Andanis dance fire dance

JJ Rawlings is burning all

Before the pristine season

Before the new seasons

JJ has sown plants of anomy

In the Northern watersheds

Savage seasons of anomy

Harvested by selfish elites

On some fools’ errand

Harvesting JJ’s lunacy

JJ the man of EVIDENCE

But he who has no evidence

For demonizing Liman

For pummeling Arkaah

For criminalizing Kufour

For calling Mills MESS-iah

The Konongo Kaya

Atta the Mortuary Man

Atta the Fante Bastard

Atta the child of a rabid dog

Atta the Fante snail

The Andanis, Abudus

The Abudus, Andani

Wake up from your stupor

Tell JJ to give his evidence

Evidence on his rampage

His murderous rampage

The killing of the judges

Of Yeyeboy

Of B. B. Bismarck

Of the Judges

Fires of violence

Fires of corruption

Fires of brutalization

Fires of “tribalism”

The Andanis, Abudus

The Abudus, Andani

Wake up from your stupor

You are one people

Same traditions, culture

For how long, how long

Must you be exploited

By JJ Rawlings

By the NDC, NPP

By your own elites

The gods have sanctioned it

The gods have asked Rawlings

To call for long overdue justice

When a murderer call for justice

The gods answer and hail him

Hail JJ Rawlings for justice

He is out to get justice for all

Not only for the Andanis

But also for the all others

And the gods will accept it

*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