Stand Down, Ken Korankye

It’s the folly of too many, to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom” – Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.

Ken Korankye? The name should ring a bell to all discerning minds in the country. Oh, please don’t say you have not heard the name. These days, they tell me one of the hottest raps in town is…haven’t you heard me on Bobie’s programme? You still don’t remember that name? The name Ken Korankye also should ring a bell to all readers of Ghanaian newspapers, especially my brothers and sisters who hang around news vending spots on days when the newspapers are in overdrive. The name Ken Korankye should also ring a bell with all listeners of radio particularly Peace FM’s flagship Kokrokooo morning programme. Then if you are addicted to Kwabena Bobie’s programme on weekday late noons on Asempa FM, you would have heard from the gentleman known and called Ken Korankye. I guess he appears on other mass media but these are the ones on which I hear him most of the time. He may probably be on some TV programme somewhere but due to my schedules, I am getting increasingly infrequent TV time and I have not been able to locate him on any channel yet. If you know where he surfaces, kindly let me know so I can put face to the name. Its obvious then. If I ever sit on the Metro with the said Ken Korankye, I would not be able to make him out. If I met him on the pavement, he might probably elicit a greeting from me because Afua taught me to greet people when I met them. But in all sincerity, I would not be doing that because he is Ken Korankye. For the purveyors of the newspapers, the man I am compelled to write about is also the editor of a newspaper called “The Daily Searchlight”. It is a newspaper that appears on most weekdays and which is gaining a lot of notoriety as a fastidious anti-NDC paper and by definition a dyed-in-the wool critic of Uncle Fiifi.

Ken Korankye has a caustic mouth!!! I am not one to fuss about freedom of speech. As Uncle Bob said, every man’s got the right to decide his own destiny, for on the judgment day, there will be no partiality. I have enjoyed some of the discourse Ken has got into particularly with Alhaji Bature sometimes on Bobie’s show. He seems articulate and works hard at getting his point across. But Ken Korankye has a caustic mouth!!! And he does not seem to distinguish which personalities are at the end of his vitriol. This piece was triggered by one of such vitriol that he spewed on Bobie’s programme some time ago and after several headlines in his newspaper that sought to attack the very integrity and personality of His Excellency, The President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof. John Evan Atta Mills. Ebei, wo nua no sen na anbin? In a reference to the President during one of the Bobie programmes, Mr. Ken Korankye referred to the President in these terms “… that nation wrecker”. I flipped. I hope all listeners to the programme who have not been blinded by the visceral battle between the elephant and the umbrella also did. How can anyone with access to public radio and a journalist at that, call the First Gentleman of the land a nation wrecker?

In these times when every issue is viewed either through elephant glasses or umbrella lenses, it should not be surprising that the ones who have sworn to their positions come out with increasingly amazing feats of intellectually implausible propositions on who and what their perceived enemies stand for and even lie down for. When was the last time a radio or TV news analysis panel was announced and you were not spot on where the panelists stood on the issues. Sometimes, its uncanny when you can even anticipate the words they will use. You look at them in the face, particularly the TV programmes and you want to weep for some of them. People have virtually sold their souls and come on air to say with all their might, what they don’t know and have not seen. JOY FM would not miss a moment to let all listeners know that the vitriol that’s about to be unleashed is not of their doing or their making or of their volition. The commentariat are lucky that Ghanaian journalism has not developed the ability to pull out what has been said in the past and match that against the present. So you can get someone, and I don’t mean Ken Korankye, who used to sing the praises of the NDC who due to no ko fio syndrome jumped unto the elephant gravy train having been assured that the chop-chop will be paradisoic, still in shock from what Uncle Fiifi has done. Stroller, Saratoga, Jerry, Baba and Publus all have assured me that when a man is in shock, he may do many things and say loads of stuff without necessarily meaning to. Shock does a lot to the mind which does a lot to the body which does a lot to the stomach which does a lot to the mind which does loads to the body. Shock makes many a person call people all sorts of names. But there is a limit to what vitriol a man is entitled to and more importantly, at whom it is thrown. Since Uncle Fiifi assumed the Presidency, check out Ken Korankye's headlines. Here are samples:
Monday, June 29, 2009: “A Govt of 419 People”.
Monday June 29, 2009: “The Muntaka Cover-up”
Monday June 29, 2009 Editorial: “Mills’ advisors Must Do Better”.
Friday June 26, 2009: “Mills, A Man Who is Anti-Peace”
Friday June 29, 2009: “Soldiers Shocked by Mills Double Convoy”.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009: “Chasing Damoah Out of the Army”.

Mr. Ken Korankye is unabashedly anti-government and anti-Mills. If you were waiting for a headline that is remotely favourable to the government and to the President, well, go to NADMO and take camping equipment because you will wait till Yeshua Amashua lands from the clouds. It just wont happen. As night follows day, you can be sure that on any and every issue, his twist will be stridently anti-government. But don’t begrudge him that. Mr. Ken Korankye has every right to his opinions. I will support his right to speak them any day. Its how he does them and the manner in which he seems to have fixated on Uncle Fiifi that makes me wade into this matter. What’s drives a man to such desperate measures? Ken, me ni sa ne? Look at Bombay. The man staked himself to the elephant “till death do us part”. In the lead up to the elections, you could hear him say on authority that the elephant will trample on umbrellas into the Palace that Yewura built. He was one of the staunchest defenders of the Nearly Man. Can you imagine what he may have gone through during those agonizing weeks when the dream was fizzling away? Do you? Can you conjure the images of potential pain that will be clashing in the brain as the events unfolded? The spectre of the Umbrella back in power. The spectre of Papa Jay straddling the news again and having a direct line to the Power Source? Can you? Such stress can easily throw the mind awry but Bombay still is standing. Not spewing vitriol as expected but yes, even having the decency to admit on occasion that the Umbrella aint broken as much as he thought. Bombay made my day in the discussion on that raid on the BNI by the Old Elephants Tuesday Club in support of their Honorary President Agya Kodwo who was having difficulty accessing his favorite mail from behind those tall walls. Bombay said point blank that the rush to the walls of the House of Exile was absolutely wrong looking at the quality of the persons involved and the vitriol from them caught on tape. That’s a man with balls. A man who knows that he may not have another birthday bash in a swanky Tokyo Hotel with an Excellency in tow. Even he does not call Uncle Fiifi a nation wrecker!!! He talks about Uncle Fiifi with the necessary decorum. Why cant you do same, Ken? Sometimes your language suggests that of someone who has a personal axe to grind. But for the life of me, I have not been able to contemplate what paaa Uncle Fiifi may have done to you personally for you to be so visceral with your caustic tongue every time you open your mouth about national issues? You really don’t have to do that to make your point. Uncle Fiifi does not deserve any of that. You know that, don’t you? But you think that out here in Ogaykrom, every one can say anything and not be responsible for the comments. Reminds me of the Tony Aidoo thunderbolt on Omari Wadie or some other young elephant in Bobie’s studio. Or is it the akom that infects people when they come close to him? If the Okomfo Bobie himself has his wits about him, how come the people who come close to him in the studio sometimes lose their marbles and spew stuff they should keep in their minds and release only to the madams or at the Coffee shop.

So Ken, I hope I see you one of these days. Stand down wae! Wont serve any purpose to continue walking your route. Learn from all the other senior journalists who make their case in a manner that does not seek to tear down any personalities. You will lose nothing in the process. You will gain something though. You may have had plans. Uncle Fiifi may have put paid to them for the time being. But, embre da ni. Enti gye ahom kakra wae. “Don’t wound yourself” in the process of such a virtually fruitless journey. Uncle Fiifi is for the next four years, our President. A president for all Ghanaians, including a certain Mr. Ken Korankye. Breda Osimi leaves you with an unsolicited advice: “Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator”. You may have an opinion, but how you fashion that opinion and how you articulate that opinion may be fundamental to your cause. Just do that and you will stop getting under the skin of Alhaji Bature. May chineke grant you peace in your heart so that the headlines of the Daily Searchlight will be more reflective of the times. Stay safe and chineke keep you till we meet.
Breda Osimi

PLAYING DUMB ON THE ROAD TO UTOPIA

Court: “How do you plead? Are you guilty or not guilty?
Accused: “ I plead my party”!!!
- Coming to a court near you this season of madness.

Okay, its official: The NPP has become the NDC!!!
While you slept, former ministers of the Kuffour government had organised themselves and marched en masse, cars, girlsfriends, brothers and sisters, well-wishers and even enemies to the House of Exile, or the Headquarters of the BNI, properly so-called. The reasons for the action were that they were going there to ask of the whereabouts of the Honourable Kojo Mpiani. I was in my office but I listened to the running commentary on JOY FM. I heard Dan Botwe speak. I heard Asabee speak later in the night. I also heard Kwabena Agyepong speak.

Oh, me nkrofo, aba asem koraa nyi? The actions of the former government officials and their supporters in organizing a siege at the BNI Head Office were to say the least unfortunate. It’s a low point, whichever you look at it, if former leaders and potential leaders besiege a state institution to demand the release of Mr. Mpiani. In the opinion of Breda Osimi, it another example of the brazen, shameless, typically-Ghanaian-politically induced move by people who frankly ought to know better. That is what makes the NPP the same as the NDC of yore.

Now let me pose a few questions? How different is that from the gang that followed the Venerable Papa Jay to the same place many years ago. Note that the then incumbent NPP extended the invitation. How different is the NPP mob of ex-ministers and former government functionaries and elephant sympathizers from the NDC yobs that followed the Hon. E. T. Mensah to the same House of Exile following his arrest and interrogation in the same House of Exile? How different is the NPP from the NDC yobs who followed Auntie Nana Konadu to the Courts singing and drumming their way into pumping fear in the hearts of the judges in the case? What moral compass does the NPP hold when people like Nana Ato Dadzie and many other functionaries of NDC I found themselves walking the same path as that threaded by Kojo Mpiani on the 02/26/09. Has the BNI been overhauled? Has Uncle Fiifi changed all the personnel there in the past 5 months such that they are applying new water boarding techniques learnt from the Venerable Gbevlo Lartey and Soja Panyin Nunoo-Mensah? How can the people who besieged the BNI office call themselves leaders? Are these the people to whom I entrusted my life and that of my manager and the two musketeers over all these years? Champions of the rule of law?

To all the people who besieged the House of Exile, I say you are potential nation-wreckers and hypocrites. You are no different from the guys up North who take up arms at the slightest provocation to resolve their issues. You are attacking government and governance the same way the NDC did to win power. In effect, you have now shown that you are officially in the opposition. You have just become the NDC of yore and its a crying shame. I could hardly bear listening to discerning minds among them and indeed some elder statesmen inciting the good people of Ogyakrom to breach the peace. How can you govern when all you do is to bastardise government and government agencies for selfish political ends? When will you start behavioring like leaders? I have previously commented that some of our leaders must go to church and mosques to thank Yeshua and Allah as appropriate for the country they find themselves in. Because if you were in other climes where they are discerning, you would not even qualify as a council member. One of them was even brazen enough to say that Mr. Mpiani may have been killed. What crash buffoonery is this from people who frankly ought to know better? The same thing happened during the elections. The NDC called out its people and they responded, en masse, sticks, cutlasses, 'bodanbo', 'buta', 'apio', 'ntampi' and all. The NPP did same. All in a bid to intimidate the EC? Leaders of today incorporating leaders of tomorrow? Weep for Ama Ghana!!!

For the records, the BNI did nothing illegal or unlawful re Kojo Mpiani’s invitation for questioning. This fact is known to most of the former government officials who converged at the House of Exile. Under the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 1996 (Act 526), the mandate of the BNI is so widely defined under section 12 (e) that the President or the National Security Counsel may direct them to perform any defined function which they deem as falling within national security. That’s broad, way too broad. That’s prone to abuse. Abuse is not specific to the NDC. It applies equally to the NPP too.

I fully agree with Counsel for Mr. Mpiani when he argues that it is critical that we all work at changing our ways in such matters. How can lawyers be disabled from being of service to their clients at such a critical time? Mpiani’s lawyer is absolutely spot-on that Mr. Mpiani’s right has been infringed.

But who’d bell the cat? These matters aren’t new. They existed in the NPP era and were duly utilized for selfish political gains. The same personnel are now employing the same tactics on their former masters. The abiding pain is that the NPP has no moral right to make such calls against such behaviour. You feel like crying for Opanyin Kojo but truth be told, the tears are hard to come by. People who are passionate about Ghana and who are discerning can and indeed should make the calls against such behaviour. It cannot be right when a senior policeman at a station where a client has been arrested tells the lawyer that their time had not come because they should go and wait for the case in court and have no business at a police station when a client has been arrested. That’s of course, bunkum. But that’s the life in Ogyakrom. Opanyin Kojo, warts and all, has a right under the constitution to legal counsel. If he does not get it, he can refuse to talk until his lawyers are by his side. But the dilemma for Opanyin Kojo may be this: “in a land where it’s the victor’s law that applies, what do I do? If I don’t cooperate and they get angry, they may “finger” me bad”. Ask yourself, why are the Tony Blairs and Dubya’s walking free in the land of their birth? It’s because the law is no respector of person. It’s because of equality before the law. It’s because out there, no politician can manipulate the system. If you have manipulated the system before, knowing that the pains of Tsatsu were contrived in some room before being played out in public, then you have earned the right to your nightmares! May you never sleep easy!!!. If you have stolen money, done illegal and unlawful things in our collective names, you have earned the right to your nightmares! God is doing a wonderful thing. Teaching politicians that it is about service to the people and not to self!!!

Mr. Politician, you have been given a golden chance to fleece a nation of forgivers. You can do a little good for great personal gain. But please, Papa Politricks, stop bastardizing the government or government agencies. Now you have the street hawkers saying that they would not leave the pavements. Are we cursed to remain in the jungle forever? All of us, discerning or not, have a duty to give government time and space to work. The law, as the breachers are already aware, makes provision for redress even if the BNI messes one up. If Gushiegu, Tamale and Bawku are deemed lawless because of the tendency for self-help, then our so-called leaders have the same genes. That should set you running to the nearest temple for some fasting and prayers. For people who aspire to govern and the people who are in government, you act to impugn government at your peril. Those actions will not stop the state agencies from doing their work. If anyone perceives an infringement of their right, the law is available.

So what has changed?

Where there was a Papa Jay
There was a K4.

Where there was a Konadu
There was a Theresa.

Where there was a 31st
There was a Mother & Child.

Where there was a Kume Preko
There was a Wahala.

Where there was an Alliance
There was a Committee.

Where there was a Vision
There was a Strategy.

Where there was an Asemfofro
There was a Stadium.

Where there was a Chagnon
There is a Lion.

Where there was a Vitol
There is a Sahara.

Where there was an NPP
There is an NDC.

The NPP was for primaries
The NDC was for consensus.

The NPP was for consensus
The NDC was for primaries.

The NPP was for Change
The NDC was for Continuity.

The NPP was for Continuity
The NDC was for Change.

The NPP is the NDC is the NPP?

So if you didn’t know, now you know. The wheels have turned and still remain forever still. The politicians are the same? Is life only about tummies? You and I may not matter much in that equation. The NPP has become the NDC! Will the NDC become the NPP? When you say a prayer, say one for Uncle Fiifi. Uncle Fiifi, wowo asem bo no por!!!

Mr. Politrician, stop driving us to utopia just because we are all dumb!!!

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana
And Make Our Nation Great and Strong!!!