Objectivity? My Foot!

By: Kobina Antobam

A good number of people questioned my objectivity in response to my previous article that drew attention to the generalization of the Akan-NPP composition which creates the mistaken impression in the minds of other Ghanaians of a total Akan-NPP link, as frequently espoused by the NPP leaders and advocates.

To all those people who are in search of elusive objectivity and balance on the web, all I can say is, don’t hold your breath. If objectivity is what you want, then you have come to the wrong place. Those who are loudest in their demand from feature article contributors for objectivity do not realize how much liars they are. They mean well, and more power to them, but their pathetic deftly veiled partisanship and shameless tribal biases give them away in their comments and articles they post on this website. As tribally diverse as we are, you have lost your objectivity as soon as you take a political stand with tribal leanings and then come on the web to influence my position on issues.

So, welcome home, my fellow writers and readers. The web is today’s arena where once ignored voiceless and faceless Ghanaians, all over the world, now have the courage to engage in rhetorical fisticuffs and castigate and flog the inept “naked emperors” of Ghana without incurring primitive and brutal reprisals. What you will not say in front of the people you insult, you readily say it on the web. I don’t mind the roughhousing that goes on here every day. So if you are looking for gentlemanliness and decorum on the web, you are then a perpetually hopeless dreamer. The frustrations of objectivity seekers may come from their inability to censor only the web postings they disagree with. I am sorry. Control of what is posted on Ghanaweb is in the hands of only Francis Akoto, who is gracious enough to allow all of us to come on his website to say what’s on our minds, some coherent, others inscrutable. But Mr. Akoto knows very well how any attempt at censorship will adversely impact his business and reverse the right or privilege of the freedom of speech that has advanced the social growth of his own country, Ghana, for nearly 20 years. Some morons have gone as extreme as wanting Ghanaweb shut down. Another point to consider is that, once you get on the web, a good part of your life has been relinquished to the virtual universe, especially your privacy, your aversion for criticism, and your hopeless need for respect.

Even agenda-driven educated Ghanaians, some who flaunt fresh, untested, and unproven academic titles, who use the web frequently to spew abominable venom, demean people, insult and destructively criticize any Ghanaian they can get their hands on, alive or dead, believe in their own fantasized nirvana of objectivity and balance. Just as you do, I also live blissfully in my own world of reality and truth even if you think that mine is a never-never land of delusions. So, your plea for objectivity will go unheeded by the intelligent, as well as the unschooled, and even the daft. That’s exactly what makes us all want to throw in our two cents here. Those educated Ghanaians, who live on the web twenty-four seven and oftentimes do not make much sense with very unimpressive writings, are shadows who have found their voices on the web, too. One fascinating example is a prolific but a boring writer on this website who is unrelenting in his tribal condescension, who is now reviled, loathed, and shunned by many, and who has succeeded in getting web visitors to ignore his articles and ridicule his tortuous writing style. I personally do not read his dismissible creative convolutions any more. I rather enjoy the comments he attracts where he is regularly ripped apart with every article he gets published. A sure symptom of borderline derangement is refusing to cease writing the same crap over and over and expecting concurrence and praise but attracting only steady derogations and abasements. Hey, people, he keeps coming, so you keep it coming too. Another variety to our reading “entertainment” is a web “poetess” who also lives in “her” outer world of objectivity.

All that said, I will continue to light fire to parts of the scheming and thieving politicians where the sun “don’t” shine. A swift kick in the teeth from time to time, not constant praises and adorations, is exactly what our politicians need in order to behave. I am confident in my conviction that I am at liberty to be as colorful as I want to be with my evaluations of those useless leaders who have been strutting, pimping, and whoring around in Ghana since Kwame Nkrumah left the scene and while the country’s problems compound. They are whippersnappers and thieves and you know it. The intensity of my colorful adjectives or rare praises will fluctuate inversely with changes or improvements in the attitudes, behaviors, and particularly the performance of these clueless leaders. I grew up with some of them and I don’t give a rat’s behind about where they have ended up. After many years of trying to find the good in these people, I still hold steadfast the belief that the African political arena is still the refuge of the scoundrel. You seek objectivity from me because you are in awe of these scoundrels and are clueless as to how you are used by them. As long as we stay within boundaries and not become extremists, such as encourage threats and harm to persons and property, I will continue to enjoy the intelligent, the serious, the mundane, the stupid, the silly, the insulting, and even the jovial contributions that we have come to experience here with the advent of the new-found freedom of expression, the internet.

A week ago, according to comments on the web to my last article, I was told I was not a Fante. I was rather a Trokosi Ewe. You guys are so serious with your misjudgments it’s hilarious. We did not have anything like the web a few years ago. So enjoy the experience while it lasts. Around the world, faceless citizens have found their voice on the web. Shadowy Ghanaians can now come on the web and either criticize constructively or rain insults on their presidents, chiefs, ministers, parliamentarians, the police, and even the armed forces, and get away with it. There is no disputing the fact that none of you rascals, if you value your life, will be brave enough to repeat many of the comments you post on the web in the presence of some public figures like the powerful mafia-like chiefs or in the presence of a Ghanaian soldier. Anyway, I will be as circumspect as possible but I will still state my position on political and social issues of Ghana. Sometimes it may come out right and sometimes I may miss widely and wildly. What I write may offend some, but man up and live with it. I, Kobina, will not claim to be objective. Objectivity is in the eye of the beholder.

By the way, my spelling of my tribe in my last article was a tad short of how we call ourselves. Sorry. We are actually Mfantsefo. The “M” adds dignity and richness. Others may call us Fanti, Fante, or any other names. But we are Mfantsefo. I am Mfantseni.