*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.
“The Dagbon Consultative Congress (DCC) has advised ex- President Rawlings to
reflect on the enormous number of precious lives lost during his ‘sadistic
pseudo-revolutionary era’ and desist from further muddling in the Dagbon crisis.
It noted that the Dagbon crisis had reached its outrageous proportions mainly as
a result of the intransigence and uncompromising posture of ex-President
Rawlings… The DCC was reacting to a statement made by Rawlings to the effect
that he knew the so-called murderers of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani. A statement issued
by the Congress, said the DCC was constrained to emphasize that if out of power,
Rawlings now claimed to know those who murdered Ya Na Yakubu, ‘then we challenge
him to name those behind the Northern conflict in 1994’” (Ghanaweb, June 13,
2003).
“ [JJ] accused the NPP of masterminding the murder of the Ya-Na Andani to
prevent public resistance over the NPP's fraudulent victory in the 2000
elections and also engineered the murder of Mobila in 2004 again to prevent
public resistance against their fraudulent victory in 2004 and thus cowed the
populace to submission” (Ghanaweb, July 1, 2008).
“Former President Jerry John Rawlings has been cited as a key player in any
fresh investigations into the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II. According to a
report carried by the Daily Dispatch newspaper, police officers charged to
further investigate the Ya-Na murder case are likely to collaborate closely with
former President Rawlings. He has over the years indicated that he has a fair
idea of who the killers are” (Ghanaweb April 1, 2011).
Murdered Judges say to Ya Na
Hmm! Ya Na, you are very lucky
Oh! Judges why am I the lucky one
Ya Na, JJ knows your killers
No JJ is covering up his own crimes
Ya Na tell JJ to reveal our killers too
Don’t mind JJ he caused the 1994 war
Eh! The Konkomba-Nanumba war too
JJ made promises to Konkombas
Oh! We had been murdered by then
JJ never fulfilled that promise
And what was the promise Ya Na
To give the Konkombas autonomy
Northerners are being exploited by JJ
Eh! Judges don’t say that JJ will kill you
Oh! Ya Na JJ can’t kill us twice
Rest in Peace Judges
You too Ya Na
JJ’s honorific lunatic poise
Withering flower in darkness
Dead petals rising to the sun
He who knows all murderers
The killers of Mobila
The killers of Ya Na
The serial killers of women
The killer who knows all killers
But not killers of the Judges
Oh! Ghanaians
Time to stand up to JJ
Time to end JJ’s noise
His holier than thou life
Time to abort JJ’s amnesia
Time to douse JJ’s fireball
The Ridge fireball that burnt all
Time to suffocate JJ’s social arson
JJ the probity man
The transparency man
The accountability man
He who has bedazzled all
He who has stolen nothing
He who loves the mmbrowas
But he who is hiding from it all
Hiding behind IDEMNITY clause
The keys to the two Fiat Jeeps
The deadly Fiat Campagnolas
The infamous vehicles of death
Used in abducting the Judges
The keys were on JJ’s dining table
Yet JJ knows nothing about it
The Amedekas got the keys
JJ’s supreme death squads
Roaming like night vampires
Abducting JJ’s opponents
The macabre death squads
Garlanded with human blood
Summoned with happiness
Marched to JJ’s House
Invaded JJ’s compound
Stormed JJ’s dining room
Picked up the car keys
JJ’s official residence
Guarded by armed soldiers
Secured by armed sentries
Yet JJ knows not the killers
Not the killers of the judges
Hypocritical murderer
The killer who knows all killers
The owner of the murderous key
Car keys were chained to JJ’s house
Chained to the Rawlings’ dining table
Chained in their secured house
The modern Castle murderer
Sent hundreds to their graves
Of Kutu and others
Of BB Bismarck, Yeye Boy
Holier than thou
Mesmerizing wreck
The killer JJ is at it again
Trumpeting confusion
Nursing rabid fear
Furnishing anger
Threatening peace
Flowering decadence
Stirring confusion
Arson-ing ethnic divides
*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
