To My Uncle Tarkwa Atta – A Tribute ( 7)

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

Uncle Tee,

I love you

but I am not

proud of you –

in the not-so-dim past,

I used to both love

and feel proud

of you;

I used to love

and feel

very proud

of you,

till you stooped

so abjectly low,

you became

a virtual valet

for Jato Patapaa…

that was when

I first espied

the sickness

that eventually

took your breath

and life

away…

some cynics

among the thuggish lot

choose to call it

your rare and

near-unique

humility,

but I prefer

to make it real

and true,

I prefer

to take

no hostages

or mince words,

for I am

the vintage breed

of a man,

a real man,

a brave man,

so I choose

to call it

abject

servility,

the way

I have come

to know

and see it…

alas,

with the cheap

and fart-gilt seat

of the presidency

dangled before

your goggled eyes,

you sold

your soul

and dignity

in the name

of humility,

the sullied breed

so luridly

associated

with the Chihuahua,

and so you quickly

became the butt

of jokes

and abuse

by hooky-playing

thugs –

anyway,

Uncle Tee,

what kind of

humility makes

a complete fool

of a brilliant

and respectable

House-Speaker

like Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes?

I know

you suffer from

acute selectivity

of your memory bank,

and so pardon me

to refresh it

with a spray

or two

of my memory-jogging

lavender –

Speaker Sekyi-Hughes

was the cousin

you so callously

dragged before

the parliamentary

ethics committee

and painfully charged

with furniture theft;

we both know

your Cousin Hughes

was no thief,

not by any stretch

of your Woyome scam-artistry…

this is why

I told you

at the beginning

of this tweet

that inasmuch as

I dearly love you

with all my

heart and

soul,

you still

have to give me

one good reason

to feel

proud

of you,

Uncle Tee…

7/28/12