Mahama's Useless Promises Exclude Making Babies

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, PhD

“President John Mahama is promising the people of the Upper West Region massive


road construction in all corners of the region if he wins the December election. The


President admits the Upper West region seriously lags behind as compared to other


regions in terms of good roads.” (Ghanaweb, November 5, 2012)





Mahama is full of promises


Withering promises


Like the dry savanna grass


The new vulture in the air


Gliding over carcasses


Salivating over the dead


Yet promising life


Vacuous promises





Mahama is promising all


Dripping with hubris


The rented president


His seductive promises

Appealing to “tribe,” region


Appealing to visceral notions


Appealing to ontological wounds


Fooling all


Falling over himself


As he de-robes Ghanaians


As he de-flowers Ghanaians


The impoverished masses


The benighted masses


Ah! In the backwater North


Ah! In the backwood North


Where votes are kinship


Where votes send sons to flee


Flee to the joys of the South


Free to return on Election Day


To make sanguinary promises


Of lack of roads


Of schools under trees


Of fratricidal combats

These are the promises


Championed by Northern elites





The caretaker president


In charge of Mills’ death


Yet has not explained Mills’ death


Caretaker of Mills’ grave


Curator of Mills’ office


Is screaming


Is shouting


Is hollering


Is blaring


Is shrieking


Is squealing


Is yelling


Above Mills’ grave


That Mahama contracted to Chinese





Mahama

The custodian of the Slave Castle


Mahama is enslaving Ghanaians


Benighting all


Promising all


Empty promises


Shallow promises


Promising new roads


Amidst NDC’s uncompleted roads


Promising new schools


Amidst NDC’s schools under trees


Promising new healthcare


Amidst NDC’s deathcare


Promising national unity


Amidst NDC’s divisive tribalism


Promises electricity


Amidst NDC blaming God for dumso


Promises moral probity


Amidst Mahama’s sexual decadence


Promises fiscal accountability

Amidst NDC’s Woyomization





Mahama is full of promises


Withering promises


Like the dry savanna grass


The new vulture in the air


Gliding over carcasses


Salivating over the dead


Yet promising life


Vacuous promises





*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.