JJ, the Bold Liar Has Fooled Ghanaians Enough

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, PhD

[JJ Rawlings proclaimed] “My fellow countrymen, my value as a man of principle and integrity is incalculable. The difference is that in my situation, I have never exchanged or sold my conscience or sold my country, my principles, my integrity for money, or destroyed honourable people for money.” He spoke of June 4th as a revolution to “restore the dignity of the ordinary man and woman and punishing those who openly paraded corruption, those who dispensed favours irregularly and promoted what we used to call ‘bottom power’ in the award of contracts; those who sought to normalise a corrupt way of life in the minds of ordinary people” (JJ Rawlings’ Speech on June 4, Ghanaweb, June 4, 2103).

“Jerry John Rawlings says he will fiercely protect his Ridge residence as he alleges encroachment on the land by a developer. According to Mr. Rawlings, he has alerted the Lands Commission to stop the developer from further pulling down the concrete wall on the land. He blamed the incidence on what he calls the “growing lawlessness” in the country” (JJ Rawlings’ Speech on June 4, Ghanaweb, June 4, 2103).

JJ, spare us your sanctimony

Your holier-than-thou

Ghanaians

Diplomats in Ghana

Your cronies

The revolutionary armed-robbers

The millionaires you created

From rags to riches

They are amused

They are laughing

They are shocked

They are snickering at you

Your perennial frothing at the mouth

Your perennial platitudes of virtue

Your perennial frothing at the mouth

Like a sick puppy in search of its father

Like a Ridge-fire looking for its arsonist

JJ Rawlings

Kufour’s 8-year rule bettered your 20-year one

Mills was a better human being by far

JJ, spare us your bold lies

Your annual ritual of ornate frothing

Spare us your wee-induced speeches

JJ Rawlings, Obonsam Fireman

Spare us the ranting of the holier-than-thou

You have taken us for granted enough

You have fooled Ghanaians enough

You killed in your wee-induced trance

You have the freedom to insult us

Insult our intelligence

Insult the children of those you killed

You deprived people of their businesses

JJ, you & your wife own Nsawam Cannery

You killed people for taking 50-cedi loans

JJ, stolen wealth has made you a millionaire

The masses you claim to represent are poor

JJ, you own mansions and cottages

Thousands of street kids sleep along open gutters

JJ you educated your four kids in expensive schools

Millions of parents can’t pay fees for their wards

JJ, the man of contradictions

Of deceit

Of megalomania

Of holier-than-thou

Hmm! The murderer

Who calls himself savior

Hmm! The con man

Who calls himself Transparency

Hmm! The extravagant man

Who calls himself Penniless

Hmm! The tribalist

Who calls himself a Nationalist

Hmm! The arsonist

Who calls himself the “Fire-service”

June 4 was a watershed of theft

A moment of buffoonery excellence

JJ Rawlings never brought peace

Neither prosperity

JJ the walking encyclopedia

Of screwed up mind

Clouded by past atrocities

Fired by Ridge fire

Profuse with it all

Of deceit

Of hallucination

Of megalomania

Of a font of a damaged mind

JJ, the man of contradictions

Of deceit

Of megalomania

Of holier-than-thou

Your cruel past is haunting you

*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.