KKD Today, Who Next?

By Angelina K. Morrison

As the festive bells fall silent and an auspicious year has pleasantly broken upon us, we may turn wistful faces away from the year just ended, and perhaps gaze with exquisite hope, fragrant resolve, and keen determination embalmed in a spirit of flush excitement to what this year has in store for us.

Nevertheless, no matter what a new year holds up its sleeves, there remains a fixed fact that repeats itself with unerring regularity that one person’s misfortune might well be another person’s fortune. And in view of the last few days, I feel impelled to indite a follow-up piece to my last article, Did KKD Go Against His Own Morals? Any other related article will come after the verdict.

While the year seems to be in its cushy cradle or inchoate stage, already New Year resolutions are tottering to the ground like shaky thrones. Cardinally predicated upon the ongoing KKD saga and my firm belief that the lives of both accused and complainant will change forever, I may yet posit a more personal and intriguing question: KKD Today, Who Next?

Would it be me, or you are next? Or, perhaps someone you know? If life teaches us one solid truth, it is that the good are capable of committing odious, heinous, opprobrious acts; on the contrary, the bad, the wayward, the malevolent on occasion can demonstrate acts of such consummate sweetness, such refreshing fidelity, and such splendid charm. No person has absolute perfection, and the reverse is equally applicable. It is rare to find anyone who does not have any skeletons in their closet. Yes, we all have them. I know mine. Are you aware of yours? Have you discovered your true condition? It was an Old Testament prophet who sounded out a timeless truth worth repeating. With characteristic precision and poise he posed the interminable question: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Sadly, anybody observing society will previse without any precognition attributes that this would perhaps be an annus horribilis (horrible year) and not an annus mirabilis (wonderful year) for some people. Of this category of people, there are some for whom this is avoidable—yes, they can avert the oncoming disaster. But would they heed and take the needed precaution to avoid the avoidable? That remains the question of truth. Do they have the essential nous to detect they are heading in the wrong direction; the indomitable temperament to halt their slide; or the rare wisdom to change course, and turn over a new leaf? Unfortunately, in this fragile arena of change, many are repeatedly found wanting. Unsurprisingly, another Old Testament book points out where many stand: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”

Should the KKD case proceed to a fair trial, this could be a great opportunity we could seize upon to address some relevant issues. What transpires in the next few days or months could have huge repercussions for two groups of people: false accusers who may be tempted to cry “wolf,” and also those who actually perpetrate such abhorrent sexual crimes. Expect what I shall declare here and now as “The KKD Effect” to leave an indelible mark in its wake.

Up and down the country, it is a known fact (and do not ask me for evidence if you can read) that people are getting away with murder. Call it sticking my head above the parapet or issuing a rather rabble-rousing speech, or whatever you prefer; our major problem as a country is not resources, for we have it in abundance. It is not even education; check the qualifications of some of the people in government for example, and you will discover they have excelled in some of the prestigious universities in the world. Our cardinal problem if you would agree is what C. S. Lewis argues as follows: “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful.”

If we were to carry out a real test to ascertain genuine and selfless willingness to advance the country, perhaps there are many in government who sadly would not make the cut. For the best description for such people, I may have to borrow from Nietzsche, and say that if some of our leaders were to stick out their chests, we will find it to be hollow.

Agree or disagree, our major problem in this country is a moral one. It is why we have and will continue to travel at such slow pace. Before anybody concludes that the argument being made is superficial; speak to a skilled accountant about concepts like creative accounting. While internal controls may exist, any knowledgeable crook of an accountant can still bilk an organisation. As another exercise, speak to men of the cloth who have the Bible, and some bold ones will divulge how they can use the same book to deceive the flock. Perhaps, from a relatively advantaged position of being quite educated, my conclusions have usually converged at the fixed point that theories and systems alone are insufficient. What we in Africa in particular are skilled at doing is getting around the rules. We neither keep the ones we have, nor come up with better ones that will advance our cause.

It was the famed American preacher Dwight L. Moody that said that, “If a man is stealing nuts and bolts from a railway track, and, in order to change him, you send him to college, at the end of his education, he will steal the whole railway track.” Can we boldly say this truth does not apply to us?

It is a New Year, and the abiding hope has to be that as a country, and in particular as individuals, we will clean out our stained closets. In the light of the case that informs the need for this article, if for example, you are a boss taking advantage of your staff because you are in a position of power, then give up such a noisome behaviour before your impending day of destruction catches up with you. Yes, as a resolute plea tinged with unabashed sorrow and enlarging disgust, let that staff member be free; and you may just be the right person reading this warning.

For the abuse that prevails in the fibre of our society, I shall use this article to call for a conscientious debate about the subject. Let our legal luminaries enlighten us further about the mechanics of our law particularly the sentence that awaits false accusers. Yes, let them pour their artless knowledge into our ever-attentive ears. Perhaps we may also enact more stringent laws to deal with the issue of sexual abuse as well as make it easier for people to report genuine occurrences. After all, most of the victims are too traumatised to endure a public trial in our snail-paced courts while at the same time facing a certain acerbic nascent jury i.e. social media—a blessing and bane at the same time.

All in all, remember that you could be next, so spare a thought for both accused and complainant, and be more measured in your seething criticisms. And if you make deserved changes to your own life in response to transparent introspection, unaffected thinking, a renewed sense of being, and an unbreakable desire for a better lifestyle, then such a harrowing experience (a result of fleeting pleasures) may never have its discombobulating shadow darken the doors of your life, or thrust its sharp beaks, piercing tentacles, or pointed claws through your otherwise once-pristine life.

Wishing you the very best for 2015.

Angelina K. Morrison.

Angelina K. Morrison is a concerned Ghanaian. She contributes her pittance (‘no ko fio’) through her candid articles. As a New Year resolution, she hopes to speak her mind only when extremely necessary, and spend the rest of her free time doing something more pleasant—thinking. You can reach her at angelinakm75@gmail.com.