To My Uncle Tarkwa Atta – A Tribute (19)

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

Accra stinks

to the high

heavens;

a statement of fact

is no abuse;

Accra stinks

beyond

stench;

a statement of fact

is no

curse

at all…

a herald

is who

I am,

I bear no

personal grudge,

I only speak

nuggets

of truth…

yes,

truth has bypassed

this land of

pretence,

deception

and death-worship;

lies continue

to blight

the land

and there is no way

of knowing

or telling if

truth shall pass

this way

again –

we love death,

death is the twin

sibling of filth,

we worship death

and so

we drown

in filth –

lately,

I have been soberly

taking stock

of the checkered

history of

our land;

lately,

I have been

counting heads

and shoulders

of the bold,

brave and

upright

of all the land;

alas,

there is not much

to report;

for truth

and gratitude

have been

proscribed

and only

rascals have been

knighted

our heroes,

while the true heroes

of the land

have been maligned

beyond

recall –

we live

in a land

unworthy

of our lives,

we live

in a land

swarmed by crooks

and thugs,

where scruples

have been chucked

to the dogs,

where memory

has been callously

muffed by ignorance

arrogance and

sheer

expediency,

where political elves

have become

larger than life,

and true heroes

outlaws and criminal

convicts by the

specially designed

edicts of thugs

and Shit-Bombers…

this knee-jerk

and self-serving

fit of

baptizing and

christening public

landmarks after scammers

and traitors of

civil rights

and democratic

accountability

cannot stand

will not stand

must not stand –

let justice reign

and true patriots

honored and

rewarded

in the annals of

self-sacrifice

and true

martyrdom…

banish this strange

season of moral

filth and

decadence;

let Ghana

be Ghana

again –

banish

hypocrisy

and apostasy

and cold-calculating

connivance

disguised as

and integrity

and probity

and humility –

8/7/12