JJ Stop Lying: Murdered Judges Have Spoken with Ya Na

*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