Kumawu by-election: How much does fufu cost today?

Fellow Ghanaians, as citizens of this republic, sometimes one is forced to believe in the common narrative peddled about our dear President that he is into the consumption of some hard drugs and other illegal hard substances.

Recall one of the famous fears of many Ghanaians who didn't believe in Akufo Addo's presidency and registered their disgust about it fearing that the man may run the country aground due to his indulgence in excessive cocaine and marijuana.

The trouble is that, while many of us summarily dismissed these allegations with joy and alacrity, the government of Akufo-Addo in the last seven years has been quite exposing and giving credence to these assumptions. It is literally an intoxicating hard substance. Maybe not because of cocaine or marijuana, but corruption, thievery, unfortunate ballooning debt, and the disregard for the plight of citizens.

Consider for example, the president’s latest reckless praise-singing of the outgoing President of Nigeria, Muhamadu Buhari, under whose watch Nigeria becomes an abattoir and a slaughterhouse for innocent Nigerians who have been butchered, marauded, and raped, and this same Commander-in-chief of terrorists is admired and painted by Akufo-Addo as a leader history would be kind to?

Is history a madman or corrupt like these two leaders and shall be kind to them? And if history shall be kinder to the likes of President Buhari and Akufo Addo, who shall history be unkind and cruel to? Nonsense!

Well, birds of the same feathers flock together. Should anybody be surprised that Satan praises Pharaoh? For Akufo-Addo of Ghana is the devil himself in the pantheon of leaders of Africa today. A man who would forever be remembered for his visionless and most corrupt leadership who relegated the Ghana cedi to the bottom of all currencies and rendered it the worst-performing currency in the whole wide world. History shall indeed be kind to him.

If history shall perchance take few sips of cocaine, perhaps it shall be kind to evil men of their kind. Indeed, these are Idi Amin’s repetition in Africa. And only God shall save us.

But for those of you who followed and read the indignation of Nigerians about this sugarcoated and mouthwateringly undeserving compliment to President Buhari by the giant of Africa's mismanager, you all saw and read the acidic comments with vituperative proclivity the good people of Nigeria poured out and descended upon our economic demon and dwarf with offensive name-calling for eulogizing his fellow governmental bulldozer who destroyed the eldorado Nigeria used to be.

Fellow Ghanaians, as if our dear President is under the influence of some hard substance or immune to shame, he came to Kumawu and made another unpardonable comment again. The President is reported to have made comments under an optical illusion that, he shall hand over power to the NPP.

Now, as a patriotic citizen, this is not only an insult to the collective commonsense of Ghanaians, it is an attack on democracy, principle of probity, transparency, and accountability, politically. How is President Akufo Addo unable to account to Ghanaians for the mismanagement of the last seven years of economic battery he has been the sole architect of, and still wants to lead?

Which saner, responsible leader would make such cruel demands? Is this because of the stolen money, can’t he appreciate how heated the economy has been for the average Ghanaian; can't Mr. President realize how much a luxury jet is now rented for an hour and use that to determine how much Ghanaians now pay for Trotro or “Yellow-yellow”?

Doesn’t the cost of the so-called projects that have been used to siphon cash from public coffers, give you a clue of how much a cement bag, iron rock, zinc, Wawa board etcetera cost today?

Indeed, a man on the back of a horse never knows the ground is hot, especially if it's a stolen horse. And that’s why our leaders can’t appreciate that they have long outlived their usefulness in the (dis)service to mother Ghana. But can’t we, like Sri Lankans, take our country back, at least at the polls?

You see, it is the current majority leader of parliament, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, who recently said that "it's only a madman who cannot change his mind."

While the majority leader may have been referring to future plans in respect of his bid to contest again since 1996, many political observers believe he was particular about the Kumawuman by-election, as many voters within that enclave can never seem to change their minds in every other election.

With prices of plantain, cassava, kontomire, snails, palm nuts, and cost of preparation of Fufuo have skyrocketed under a government they couldn't change their minds in the last election, the question now is, have the people of Kumawu constituency learnt some bitter lessons in the midst of this economic drudgery, or they would continue to be mad as Osei Kyei Mensah has postulated?

If a man on the back of a stolen horse can't tell how hot the earth is, isn't it right and sensible to pull him down by the victim of his theft to let him taste of what it feels like? Would the people of Kumawu constituency change their minds in this by-election or would they succumb to the apparent declaration of an attack on their intellect by the NPP who suddenly see the need to fix their roads in order to hoodwink them.

At what point in time did we descend this low as a people?

This is why it is important to remind all right-thinking Ghanaians, if there are any within that political locality, to be vigilant, patriotic, and sensible enough and say "enough is enough" to the NPP, and hand over that parliamentary seat to the NDC as its flagbearer, His Excellency, former President Mahama, is preparing to bounce back like kai kai. In Sha Allah.

There should be no hang-parliament whatsoever when he is back, and the Ashanti Region in general has a role to play, and must, in fact, demonstrate to Ghanaians how far they are placed above primordial sentiments such as tribalism, regionalism, and perhaps, "elephantism". Frankly, the NPP government has embarrassed them and they must be punished for the shambolic economic management they have displayed so far.

Clearly, these latest comments by Akufo-Addo in which he hallucinated of handing over power to the NPP to continue their demolition exercise of the prospects of this country called Ghana, is indeed one of the most, and I say this with utmost respect, idiotic, most shameful and very unpatriotic presidential statement capable of making even Jesus Christ blush any useless, clueless, merciless President can ever make having run their economies aground.

Indeed, it's intriguing, disturbing, irritating, nauseating, and, you know what, hilarious at the same time, that President Akufo-Addo and the embarrassed New Patriotic Party, still have the guts to want to stay in power despite the unprecedented mess, unspeakable pain and agony they have caused Ghanaians over the last seven years.

Do they have to be blamed? The constituents of Kumawu would demonstrate it. They shall not accept the blame from a blameworthy government.

For a moment, one may think Ghana has been personalized and customized to this group of cabal for the most disrespectful comments they make to Ghanaians in their quest to stay in power.

Apparently, they take delight in the pain of ordinary Ghanaians go through daily as a result of their unfortunate economic squandermania, profligacy, gangsterism, and thievery.

Is it not shameful, quite embarrassing that people like Alan Cash, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Kennedy Agyapong and the country's economic Pharisee, Dr. Bawumia, the demon of lies someone describes him recently, want to still lead this country? What do these gangsters take us for in this country?

Won't the wives, children, and family relatives of these shameless political wannabes tell them that they have already damaged Ghana beyond their repair, and that what they have stolen in the last seven years can be enough for their generations yet unborn? What impudence? What nonsense in this country?

Fellow Ghanaians, but what we are seeing today is not a surprise to many of us; the red flags had been raised left right and center about these political terrorists and jihadists of economic management. If we travel down memory lane, one factor that many Ghanaians considered and refused to elect then candidate Akufo-Addo in two successive presidential elections was their understanding that his demeanor was unfit for president. It is very difficult for him to appreciate reality.

The man has been off guard since time immemorial, and has lost touch with reality of what the masses go through since his childhood. A man who wanted to see how Ghanaians suffer and had to board a taxi because in his whole life he had board taxi only once?

Why won't someone like that burn down a house to get rid of a salamander? Why won't he be preparing to set Ghana ablaze if his maniacal desire to handover political power to his bunch of cronies, acolytes and cabal? Regardless.

Of course, to spend the rest of his life in prison like Jacob Zuma of South Africa is something the President can't contemplate. And indeed, he shall face harsher criminal charges upon leaving office for the broad-day light robbery he has subjected the national vaults of our nation to in the last seven years. The man fears prison. He might not hate or envy Mahama.

However, if there’s any companion Akufo-Addo and his corrupt finance minister should be ready to embrace, it’s Nsawam. Like it or not, the Kumawuman by-election would partly serve as a democratic experiment and a litmus test for what is to come in the upcoming 2024 general election and beyond. Hence, the tantrum the government has been throwing like an agitated toddler.

The empty stomachs of Ghanaians and their naked "wahala", misery, suffering, and drudgery shall be a determining factor in the Kumawu by-election. Guaranteed that Fufuo has seized to be the household food for the people of Kumawu, Ashanti, and Ghana in general, due to unnecessary economic hardship a Kalebule government involved us in, should decide the fate of the NPP in the next election starting with this by-election.

The people of Kumawu constituency would decide the fate of the NPP taking into account the numerous debts the government has incurred since they stepped foot to power for the benefits of DATA Bank; they should decide the fate of the NPP taking into account the exchange rate today; people of Kumawu constituency should decide who’s incompetent, President Mahama's 40 billion debt or Akufo Addo’s 570 billion debts?

Today, inflation is forecast to be pegged at around 29% (of course that is the massaged figure by a corrupt and most untruthful government Ghana has ever seen) after the IMF bailout, what was inflation when the NDC handed over power to the NPP in 2016? Let people of Kumawu decide.

The NPP may still blame Mahama for their mess. And they would talk about DumSor. The people of Kumawu should not fall for this criminality anymore, instead let them ask smart questions to determine the real cause of DumSor: how did the NPP fix DumSor when it disappeared immediately Akufo Addo was declared a winner of 2016 general elections?

That is, before he was even sworn into office as President. Did they manipulate and cause DumSor because of their filthy desire to come into government? What magic wand did they wave? Was DumSor an “inside job”? Was it engineered by Akufo Addo and his desperate political scavengers and vultures who wanted political power at all cost? Let the people of Kumawu decide.

As the people of Kumawu constituency vote in this all important by election, they should remember the missing excavators, the disappearance of Covid-19 funds, the BOST scandal, the Agyapa Deal, etcetera etcetera. And who has been prosecuted under Akufo Addo since the creation of that useless portfolio called Office of Special Prosecutor. Apart from political which hunting?

The people of Kumawu should have in their minds what the finance minister and his DATA Bank have done to Ghana; the offshore companies captured in the Pandora papers, and Panama papers! The collapse of micro financial businesses and the crashing and scrambling of full banks and creating unemployment.

Indeed, this by-election would prove and indicate, whether Ghanaians have learnt bitter lessons from the unfolded and still unfolding disaster of a bitter economy run by a bunch of kleptocrats and cabal or not.

People of Kumawuman and its environs, please prove Osei Kyei Mensah wrong in this by-election. You aren’t really mad people and that, you can change your minds and at any time.

God shall show up to see your level of faith. Be and remain enablers of good governance for Ghana.

Shalom.