Nananom Farmers: An Epic of Veritable Work

(1 of 3 Parts)

*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema

PART I. AMPONSEM: THE FARMER

My Nana cocoa farmer

Nana Nkwantabisa Boa Amponsem

The veritable child of Ghana

Breaks his back to benefit all Ghanaians

Tirelessly labors on cocoa plantations

On plantain and yam farms

In the womb of Ofin River in Denkyira

In the navel of Densu in Akyem Odumase

Farmers

On lonesome fields

Desolate areas

Solitary regions

Backwater provinces of gloom

Devoid of the glamour of Accra

The allure of Kumasi

The beauty of Obo-Kwahu

The thrills of Tema

The charm of Ho

The hilly magnetic pull of Aburi

The savannah incentives of Tamale

My Nana cocoa farmer

Nana Nkwantabisa Boa Amponsem

Tirelessly labors on cocoa plantations

Diseased farmers

Calloused fingers from using cutlasses

Knotty joints from eternally bending down

Always bending down in rituals of laboring

To satisfy “greedy bastards” of elitist thieves

Educated, urban-based thieves

Whose riches are cocoa-foreign exchange

Farmers

Never steal from Ghanaians

Nana Nkwantabisa Boa Amponsem

A non-Christian, non-elitist

But religious, a true philanthropist

The cosmopolitan in the forest

The patriot of moral probity

The nationalist of accountability

Who idolizes Nyame Kwame (God)

Trusts in Asase Yaa (Earth) to deliver

Farmers

Are the repositories of wisdom

Skilled in the chirping sciences of birds

The dancing schedules of squirrels

Budding twigs are their ontology

Thunder is their initiatory observance

Rainfall is their ritual performance

And the fertile soil is their craft

Cutlasses are their epistemic narratives

My Nana cocoa farmer

Nana Nkwantabisa Boa Amponsem

You are the veritable child of Ghana

True child of Denkyira of Ofin, Densu

You are the sanctuary of sacrifice

And the archetype of hard work

A paragon of probity, transparency

Not like those who hypocritically shout

And scream one thief one toilet

But have amassed 10,000 toilets

Swimming in the smells of stolen wealth

Putrid smells that cloud their ontology

Farmers

Nana Nkwantabisa Boa Amponsem

The veritable children of Ghana

Tirelessly labor on cocoa plantations

That feeds elitist thievery

Of cocoa-foreign exchange

Elitist educated thieves

Educated elitist vampires

That feed on farmers’ blood

*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