*By Akadu Ntiriwa Mensema, Ph. D.
“I [Rawlings] said it the other day, the people he [Atta Mills] surrounded himself with, most of them have worked with me before. That’s when I said who born dog. In my time, none of them would dare do the foolish things...” (Myjoyonline Feb 10, 2010; Ghanaweb Feb 11, 2010).
I. THE DOG’S SONG
All Sing Along
Don’t Bark with JJ
Wow wow wow JJ
Ah ah ah ah oh Mills
Every dog has its day
JJ has had his day
Wow wow wow JJ
Ah ah ah ah oh Mills
But JJ eye-red Mills’ day too
And so JJ unleashes his dogs
Wow wow wow JJ
Ah ah ah ah oh Mills
Refrain: Who breeds the dogs
JJ does
Dogs of chaos
Rabid dogs of exclusionism
Wow wow wow JJ
Ah ah ah ah oh Mills
All Sing Along
JJ’s dogs have political rabies
Social fleas
Wow wow wow JJ
Ah ah ah ah oh Mills
And JJ says Mills is infected
By JJ’s dogs of tyranny
Plaguing dogs of tyranny
II. TYRANNY OF THE DOG
JJ arrived, very poor, stole power
Barked, baited all the time
Like any dog born of dogs
In his case born of ONE dog
But “bastards” he called Mills’ dogs
JJ’s dogs that have besieged Mills
So JJ did some good things
But rampaged like a sick dog
Dregs of power are intoxicating
Hangover
JJ is hanging on a cliff
Even JJ’s avid admirers
Have wagged left hands at him
From afar
As he who is tumbling down
Cascading on insanity slope
JJ has had it all
What Ghanaians wish for
From yoke-gari rags to riches
Even designer tie-and-dyes
JJ has the Indemnity Clause
He never barks at it
JJ has had it all
Free food, housing, water
The masses don’t
Freedom to ride in bullet-proof 4 X 4
Paid for by his anonymous friends
Freedom to have 10, 000 toilets
Freedom to kill those with one toilet
Freedom to teach us what is right
Yes, JJ knows it all
He alone has been right all along
Freedom to preach virtues that never were
And our ears wear his cacophonic sores
III. WHICH DOG DARED JJ
JJ
We know that we dare(d) you not
In your heyday
Even now in your apparent nadir
We dare you not
Those who dared you suffered
Oh! Arkaah
Uncle Arkaah! Oh
Kyeremeh Djan
Abductions
Murdering judges
Curfews
Disappearances
Universities shut down
Makola women’s genitalia
Broken-bottle hair-cuts
Pulling down of homes
Seizure of properties
You were the terror
And terror haunts terrorists
So we dared you not
But another season is here
The gods are haunting you
You are besmearing yourself
With insanity potions
Yes, we dared you not
And the gods are with us
IV. JJ LEASH YOUR DOGS
JJ leave Mills alone
Mills needs his kernel of power
JJ leave Mills alone
JJ you said it all
You had 18 years = 20 years
Twenty years of power
Mills has had only one year
Discipline
Yours was our darkest hour
Your probity pilloried for power
We heard it all
Now give Mills his dog’s day
Mills already heard it all
You said Mills is snail-slow
Mills associates with thieves
Greedy, corrupt bastards
Mills works with team Z
But Mills’ dogs are your dogs
All are your cherished dogs
Dogs of kinship
Yes you “born the dogs”
Who are plaguing Mills
So retrieve those rabid dogs
Of incompetence
Of doggish pretentions
Of clannish wagging tails
Barking, baiting at Mills
V. MILLS YOU NEED FREEDOM
JJ
Barks at his SWEDRU child
Oh! Uncle Mills
Atta the “bastard” of “who born dogs”
The orphan of “who born dogs”
Atta Mills who danced, basked
As JJ barked at Liman, Kufour
JJ
The most intelligent barking dog
The only Ghanaian
JJ who has all the answers
But failed to provide answers
In a 20-year rampaging seasons
JJ “who born dogs” all rabid dogs
Can’t stop barking, baiting
Atta Mills
Mills unleash your neck
From JJ’s dog chain
Fight like a dog born in Swedru
Swedru dogs freely roam free
Atta Mills
Free yourself from the tyranny of dogs
From the bullying DOG that knows it all
From the plague of JJ’s dogs
Else history will not be kind to you
*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
