<<Print>>

These are interesting times for me and my compatriots. I now wake up every morning not only hoping, but also knowing very well that one political actor or another would open another interesting page in the political book of the country. For those of us who love movies, it would be more than exciting to have the political happenings on a motion picture. Can you imagine watching a movie titled �The Yutong Driver�, starring Agya Ofuntuo, John Armajarro Mahama and the greedy bastards, edited by Kofi Adams and written and directed by the one and only Dr. Jerry Boom? What a great movie that would be! The heat is on, Abusuapanin. The music coming from the Mills-must-go orchestra is becoming louder and more melodious by the day. But the conductors of the Mills-must-stay orchestra say it is nothing but a discordant tune. Do you believe them? If the Mills-must-go tune is as discordant as they want us to believe, why then has the Agya Ofuntuo Campaign Team become so agitated? The team has become so agitated that it finds nothing wrong with using Council of State members in its campaign. Mr. J.H. Owusu Acheampong, the Brong Ahafo Regional representative on the Council of State, is the Chairman of Get Atta Mills Endorsed (GAME). Another Council of State member, Cecilia Johnson, in her bid to impress the President, went sowing seeds of discord and division during Agya Ofuntuo�s campaign launch. And you know more than I do that these are the people empowered by the Constitution to advise the President on matters of national importance. Kai, Council of Bootlickers would be more appropriate, don�t you agree? General Mosquito, the Zu-za General Secretary, has time without number shouted from the rooftop that the national executive members of his party are neutral in the flagbearership selection process. But as I watched him debunk whatever falsehood he claimed Dr. Boom propagated, dark clouds in my mind made me wonder if he was indeed neutral. I became more puzzled when it dawned on me that the debunking was done on Agya Ofuntuo�s platform, and not on a neutral one. I�ve heard it said that politicians are a bunch of hypocrites. They are accused of saying one thing in opposition and doing another thing altogether when in power. Maybe you don�t agree, but I do. We all heard Candidate Mills when he accused his opponents of profligacy, didn�t we? Indeed, the word profligacy was virtually unknown in this country until he unveiled it. Now that he is in power, the word has miraculously vanished from his lexicon. He finds nothing wrong with spending a whopping 18,000 cowries to telecast live his picking of forms and campaign launch. Not to talk of the cowries splashed on printing thousands of T-shirts, hiring of buses, and all the razzmatazz. Kweh, money swine! I was therefore not surprised when Hebert Mensah revealed that he and Dr. Boom had intercepted a secret tape which revealed, among other things, the President�s 90 million campaign budget. The President laughed it off, but his subsequent actions planted seeds of doubts in many minds. To laugh an issue off means one does not want to glorify it with a comment. It is therefore puzzling that the President laughed off Herbert�s allegation, then in the next breath ordered the highly biased National Security to investigate the matter. Don�t you smell anything? We all know that even if Gen. Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (rtd) and his boys saw the President carrying the 90 million cowries on his Mugu Yaro head, they would not come out and say it. So what was the real intention behind the order? Was it to intimidate Herbert and cow him into submission, or to throw dust into our eyes? My sensitive nose smells a very big rat. Well, the National Security officials have finally made good their threat by inviting Herbert, and what did they get out of him? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He confirmed he did listen to the tape, but revealed it was in Dr. Boom�s possession. We wait to see if the B.N.I has the guts to invite Dr. Boom. Abusuapanin, I chanced upon a staunch Akatamanso friend a fortnight ago and was very surprised to hear him complain that he was reeling under severe economic pressure. I wondered how he could be hungry in the midst of plenty cash flowing in his party. But it quickly dawned on me that his situation was a manifestation of the Biblical saying, �For lack of knowledge my people perish.� I therefore advised him to think deep and take advantage of the current situation in his party. You may not believe this, I received a call from him two days ago informing me about plans to inaugurate a new group, �Organised Small Associations of Mills� Associates� (OSAMA), soon. The Agya Ofuntuo camp, he revealed, has many rivers flowing of milk and honey. The heat is on. With the trading of both verbal and physical punches between FONKAR and GAME in and out of radio and television studios, one cannot help but conclude that the heat is on. But some still want us to believe it is just a passing storm. Maybe it is. But one thing I know for sure is that some storms are so strong that their disastrous effects can still be felt decades after they occur. Could the FONKARING and GAMING contest be one of such? Time, they say, will tell!