“GREEDY BASTARD:” JJ the Fireman Wants a New Home to Burn
*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.
“Touching on the burnt Ridge residence, Mr Agyenim-Boateng said the former First
Family wanted the place constructed in a ‘certain way and by a particular
contractor’, but the NDC is still waiting for the “drawings from the Rawlingses
for works to proceed on it”(Abridged from Joy FM Online July 8, 2010).
“Mr. John Tia Akologu, Minister of Information said: ‘the NDC's attention has
been drawn to accommodation concerns raised by the Konadu Rawlings.’ It said the
NDC had been in constant touch with the Ex President's team who had indicated a
preference for reconstruction of the burnt Ridge premises” (Abridged from
Ghanaweb, July 9, 2010).
“The residents [of Adjiriganor-East Legon] are at a lost (sic) as to why Mrs.
Rawlings would be looking for a house to rent whilst her husband is practically
one of their high-profile neighbors. The Adjiriganor inhabitants, particularly
those in the gated NTHC Estates, relish how Mr. Rawlings’ presence in the area
alone was enough to ensure regular water supply after years of being milked dry
by water tank drivers (Abridged from Ghanaweb July 10,2010)
JJ Rawlings & Yaa Konadu
Today’s homeless millionaires
Liman was never a millionaire
But JJ made Liman homeless
The Rawlingses have it all
The best free food & wine
While we go hungry, thirsty
Expensive designer clothes
While we can’t buy used clothes
Education of their kids abroad
While we can’t pay local fees
JJ the homeless millionaire vulture
Fears to claim his Adjirigano house
Haunted by his past misdeeds
Of killing those who had homes
Those with 50,000-cedi loans
JJ deprived families of their homes
Hunted by his acidic hypocrisy
Of foaming rhetoric of populism
JJ fears to say that he has palaces
The past has caught up with JJ
His one man one toilet philosophy
Turned out to be 100 toilets for JJ
JJ has been full of deadly lies
Today he is scratching his head
And Ghanaians have seen his lice
The Obonsam Fireman of Ridge
JJ he who “born” all rabid dogs
Rabid dogs that fear fire
Fear the fire of probity
Fire of transparency
JJ he who gets all his wealth
From anonymous friends
JJ whose rabid dogs fear fire
Yet roam freely in fire
In the Ridge fire of deceit
Dogs, cars, jewelry, clothes
The Obonsam Fireman saved all
The chief fireman of Ridge
Dogs of chaos that escape fire
Dogs choreographing anti-Millsisms
Now wants a new palatial house
In his Obonsam Fireman’s fireplace
To be built by his own contractor
JJ has had decades of freeloading
As he fights for poor people
And he is still asking for more
The real GREEDY BASTARD
The killer of our dreams
The validated bastard of chaos
Now we know him very well
The revolutionary of our time
Happens to be con man
JJ Rawlings in 1979
Lean and hungry-looking
Dried like Keta school boys
In the harmattan season
JJ Rawlings post-1979
Fat like a Korle-Bu vulture
Full of deadly poison
Killed to enrich himself
The warrior of the poor
Only fights for himself
JJ the deceitful Obonsam Fireman
Has burnt down Nkrumah
Busia, Acheampong, Liman,
Arkaah, Kufour, Mills
Has burnt down everyone
JJ Rawlings & Konadu
Dropped from poverty hell
Preached revolution of austerity
Ghanaians wore Rawlings’ chains
Famined, dehydrated, anemic
JJ’s prescription of the staple diet
Of gari, cassava, coconut
But JJ’s body ballooned in size
Freeloading from Ghanaians
Like a vulture on a stately carcass
Spineless Atta Mills
JJ’s pet of a SLOW” man
Has doubled his snail-pace
To build a palace for JJ
In JJ’s fireplace at Ridge
The “GREEDY BASTARD”
When the North lacks schools
Where classes are held under trees
The “GREEDY BASTARD”
The killer of our dreams
**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
